Factors Affecting Entrepreneurial Success of Women Headed Family Entrepreneurs: A Study in Poonakary Area of Kilinochchi District

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find out the factors affecting the entrepreneurial success of Women Headed Families (WHF) in Poonagari area of Kilinochchi district located in the northern part of Sri Lanka affected by thirty years of civil war. As a result, most of the women in this area were left to lead the family due to loss of husband or either divorce or abandonment by husband. Another reason could be the elder male member of the family goes missing or the male member has any other disabilities etc. They struggle for livelihood. Hence, they started engaging in entrepreneurial activities. Primary data were collected through a well-structured questionnaire from a random sample of 105 women entrepreneurs who were the head of their families using stratified random sampling method. Hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis. In this study, the influencing factors were measured by the dimensions of family background, personal factors and institutional support. Entrepreneurial success is the dependent variable measured by sales growth, profit growth and business survival. The impact of influencing factors on entrepreneurial success was found using multiple regression analysis. Family background and institutional support were found to influence entrepreneurial success, while personality factors did not influence entrepreneurial success. Accordingly, these findings will be of great value to policy makers in improving the factors that promote women's entrepreneurship in developing countries. Furthermore, this study will provide an insight to existing and prospective entrepreneurs from female-headed families by gaining awareness of the factors that determine their entrepreneurial success