What motivates females to start a business? The case of a female entrepreneurship programme in South Africa

Internationally, many females are still at a disadvantage when it comes to business opportunities. While in general, females encounter more challenges when it comes to starting new business ventures, these difficulties do not prevent them from doing so. Entrepreneurial development programmes developed specifically for female entrepreneurs contribute in part to solving some of the said challenges faced by females before and during the start-up phase of their businesses. In light of this, the purpose of the study was to identify the specific factors that motivate such entrepreneurs to start their own businesses. A total of 66 females from five different groups who enrolled between 2013 and 2017 for a short course specifically designed for such entrepreneurs in early start-up stages or who were intending to start a business made up the respondents of this study. They were asked what motivated them to make a decision to start a new business. The results based on the calculated average from all five groups indicated that the majority of females wanted to do so in order to be independent, as well as to have freedom and to add towards a social goal. None of the respondents indicated that they wanted to start a business due to a role model or other people's influence or because they could not find another job (being unemployed). In addition, very few of the participants (just from groups 4 and 5) stated that they wanted to start a business due to survival (loss of job or retrenchment) or job dissatisfaction (being full-time employed). From the study, all the reported motives to start a business are considered pull-factors; in general, the majority of respondents from this study wanted to start a business due to opportunity and not due to necessity.