An empirical investigation of factors affecting the performance of women entrepreneurs in Harare: a case of food vendors

Thabani Nyoni

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Zimbabwe, whose economy is under life support; continues to be characterized by company closures with many workers losing their jobs through retrenchments (Nyathi et al, 2018). This fragile economic situation has resulted in a number of Zimbabweans resorting to entrepreneurship as their last option. We note with kin interest that the growth of women entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe has also increased significantly. This study seeks to empirically investigate the factors that affect the performance of women entrepreneurs in Harare. The study adopts a case study approach, specifically focused on food vendors in Harare. Questionnaires consisting of structured and unstructured questions were used for data collection. The research employed purposive sampling to select the target population and 190 questionnaires were completed and analyzed. While consistent with both the psychological and economic theories of entrepreneurship, the results of this study also indicate that the performance of women entrepreneurs in the food vending sector in Zimbabwe continues to be hindered by a serious lack of adequate financial resources. The study managed to come up with two main policy recommendations that are envisioned to go a long way in improving the performance of women entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; food vendors; women entrepreneurs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L2 L25 L26 M13 M20 M21 M29 M3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-12-06, Revised 2018-05-31
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent
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