2.0 The African Entrepreneur Demographic Characteristics: Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa
(Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, Oct 2002 by Kiggundu, Moses N)
Various personal demographic variables appear to differentiate successful from less successful entrepreneurs in Africa, as they do elsewhere (Kallon, 1990; Mead, 1999; Mead & Liedholm, 1998; Stewart, 1996). Earlier studies found that successful African entrepreneurs tended to be male, middle-aged, married with a number of children, and more educated that the general population. For example, Benedict (1979) found that the growth and success of family entrepreneurs was dependent upon a strong authoritarian father and a closely knit family structure, with wives and children willing to submit to the father's rule. Kallon (1990) found in Sierra Leone that, the average entrepreneur was a monogamous male, about 46.2 years old, with an average of 5.4 children, and 4.5 dependents living in his household.
More recent studies have found that female entrepreneurs experience more operational and strategic impediment to success than their male counterparts (Rutashobya, 2001). Mead and Liedholm (1998) found that male-owned firms grew faster than those owned by women. Yet other recent surveys report higher rates of female entrepreneurial participation, both as owners and employees (Frese, 2000). For example, Mead and Liedholm (1998) report female ownership participation rates of 48 percent and employees of 44 percent. This is particularly the case for the micro and small enterprises (MSEs), employing very few if any people and generating little or no income for the owners.
The predictive validity of demographic variables tends to be unstable over time, especially when studied in isolation. This may be partly due to the conceptual and measurement problems of success as a dependent variable (Van Dijk, 1995), and partly due to changing societal values and practices. Keyser, de Kruif and Frese (2000) found no significant differences in success due to age or gender among Zambian MSE owners. As predictors of success or failure, demographic variables should be studies longitudinally, and in combination with other variables to form clusters, which show up either as problems or success factors (Dia, 1996; Mead, 1999).
20 The African Entrepreneur Demographic Characteristics Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa - To learn more about this author, visit Journal of Development Entrepreneurship's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
![]() | |
| |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
|
| |
| |||
Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
|||
Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
|||
Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
|||
Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
![]() | |
![]()
| |
![]() | |
|
| |
![]() | |
|
| |
![]() | ||
|
| ||
![]() |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
![]() |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
![]() |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
![]() |
|
|
![]() | ||
|
Top 50 Blogs For Startups
Top Blogs To Watch In 2009 | ||
|
The Top 10 GTD Times Posts
Best Posts for Productivity | ||
![]() | ||
![]() | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||









Subscribe to Journal of's articles











