CHAPTER FOUR Presentation of Results
4.3. Entrepreneurs Profile
This section deals with the personal profiles of respondents.
4.3.1 Age profiling of respondents
Table 4.1: Percentage showing the earliest time women starts engaging in entrepreneurial activities in different sectors.
From table 4.1 the respondents were asked to indicate their age when they started their businesses from the respondents 14% of respondents were indicated that they were between the age of 20-29 years when they started the business and 14% of them are in distribution and food provision.
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Sector
% Age Profile
20-29 years 30-39 years
40-49 years
50 < years
Construction 20%
Mining 10% 43%
Franchise 10%
Food Provision 30%
Marketing 10% 26%
Distribution 10% 14% 10%
Trucking 10% 17%
17% indicated that they were 50years and above when they started the business and 17% of them were in trucking and franchise business; 26% indicated that they were between the age of 40-49 when they started the business and 43% of them are in construction, mining and franchising business; 40% indicated that they were between the age of 30-39 when they started the business and 26% of them are in food provision and marketing.
4.3. 2 Level of Education
Figure 4.2 Shows the education level of respondents
The education levels of women in this study ranged from post degrees graduates to those who had finished matric to those who have never been to school and some had been and never reached matric. 40% of women interviewed had matric or grade 12 as the highest standard passed, 30% had a post matric qualification and 20% had not finished high school and 10% had never been to school.
These findings illustrate the differences in the educational levels of women who engage in business activities.
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4.3.3 Work experience
Table 4.5: Illustrates the work experience of the participant
Description Percentage
Have worked before 60%
Never worked before 40%
Amongst all the women that were interviewed only 60% seemed to have been employed before engaging in business ventures. The other 40% revealed that they had never been employed before.
From table 4.5 60% that had been employed revealed how much the experience they accumulated from work helped them in running their businesses. Out of this 60%, 20% mentioned that they had been employed for a period longer than five years which made their experience even more helpful.
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20% have worked for 5yrs or more
experience
4.3.4 Family status.
Figure 4.3: Illustrates the percentages of support from families.
Respondents were asked how their roles in their families are affected by the time they spend in their business ventures. Of the respondents 40% indicated that they were able to balance the two, as they stated that with the support they are getting from their husbands and children they are managing and there is no gap felt either by the business or the family.
They were 40% respondents who feel that their family‟s are not giving them the necessary support as they are still expected to run family errands despite the fact that it is known that they are required to work very hard in their businesses. Amongst these women one also pointed out that “the husbands are not so supportive in terms of children school work and making sure that the children‟s school work is in order and the children are dropped and picked from school if they are away with business or if they are still caught up somewhere in the business meetings”. The other 20%
respondents feel that sometimes they do get support but other times they don‟t, W9 reveals that “getting no support from your spouse in particular can be very stressful”.
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4.3.5 Motives of pursuing entrepreneurship
Figure 4.4: Illustrated the motives that encouraged women to pursue entrepreneurship.
Notes
f & f – friends and family
Salary & change- underpaid when employed and change in roles.
Employers- problems
The respondents were requested to specify what motivated them to pursue entrepreneurship. Of the respondents 30% indicated they had been motivated by family and friends who saw creativity and potential in them.
There were 30% of respondents who indicated they wanted new challenges and also indicated they had become disillusioned in their jobs and felt that the money generated for their employers could be better coming to them.
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W6 who had been working for Unilever had this to say “Unilever had been milking a lot from me and I was not getting the pay I deserved so that‟s why I said enough is enough then I started my own business and I don‟t regret”. Of respondents 40%
indicated that they were dissatisfied with their salaries and needed to make more money and they had exhausted passion for their jobs and needed change.
4.4 The Personal Characteristics
This section illustrates the respondent‟s response in relation to rating the characteristics as drivers. To determine the characteristics of respondents, respondents were asked questions in relation to these characteristics: business passion; independence; innovation, and risk taking.
4.4.1 Business passion as a driver
Table 4.6: Illustrates the perceptions about passion for business.
Perceptions on passion as a driver Percentage (%)
Passion is rated highly 70%
Passion is not rated highly 30%
Of respondents 70% indicated that an entrepreneur has to be passionate about business in order to succeed. “A passionate entrepreneur has got potential to make lots of profit through hard work”. Later expressing with a sigh W3. Of respondents 30% feel that a person can work hard with a goal of making profit.
These respondents insist that a person need not be passionate about the business she ventures into; she can be in business that she does not like but that is profitable for her. W2 qualified that by an example of a prostitute who gets into it for making money only not for love of.
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4.4.2 Independence as a driver
Table 4.7: Illustrates the perceptions about independence as a characteristic for starting a business.
Perceptions on independence as a driver Percentage (%) Independence is highly a driver 50%
Independence is not highly a driver 30%
Independence vaguely a driver 20%
Of 50% of respondents indicated they started their businesses to gain independence whilst 30 % indicated that a desire for independence was not a driver for starting their own business. The remaining 20% were not clear about independence as the driver characteristic that led them to start businesses.
4.4.3. Innovative
Table 4.8: illustrates Innovative the perceptions of respondents with regards to innovativeness as characteristic that motivating to start a business.
Perceptions on Innovative as a driver Percentage (%) Innovative is highly a driver 70%
Innovative is not highly a driver 30%
Of the respondents interviewed 70% revealed innovativeness as the characteristics that motivated them to start businesses. W5 even specified that “the creativity that was within me drove me to where I am today”. Whereas the other 30% answered negatively when asked whether innovativeness was one of the characteristics that drove them to star their businesses. W7 quoted saying “Innovative or not women are capable, I do not believe in big terms like innovative. I believe one just has to follow her dream, there are so many innovative people out there who are not acting on their innovativeness so I think one just have to be ambitious and act on it to succeed”.
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4.4.5 Risk taking
Table 4.9: Illustrates risk taking as a characteristic for starting a business.
Perceptions on risk taker attitude as a driver Percentage (%) Risk taking is highly a requirement 80%
Risk taking is not highly a requirement 20%
Only 20% of the respondents did not agree with the concept of risk taking as a requirement to venture into business however the other 80% indicated risk taking required as a characteristic for an entrepreneur.