Investigating the Challenges and Prospects of Female Entrepreneurs in Ghana

International Journal of Business and Management Studies, CD-ROM. ISSN: 2158-1479 :: 1(1):43–54 (2012)

INVESTIGATING THE CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS IN GHANA

Bylon Abeeku Bamfo and Felicity Asiedu-Appiah

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Interest in entrepreneurship and female entrepreneurship in particular has been on the increase throughout the world with the recognition that women play an invaluable role in entrepreneurial activity. This has led to an increase in the interest of the development of female entrepreneurship among policy makers, academics, and practitioners particularly in less developed countries. Thus, there has been recognition that the creation of women entrepreneurship can play an important role in promoting growth and development and, thus alleviate poverty. The purpose of the current study was therefore to investigate the challenges and prospects of female entrepreneurs in Ghana. The study was mainly qualitative which employed face-to-face interviews with the respondents. The respondents were made up of 28 female entrepreneurs or owner managers. Analysis of the data was done using NVivo software. The study revealed that female entrepreneurs were motivated to start their own business because of their desire to be their bosses, pursue business ideas and to have financial autonomy among others. It was further revealed that female entrepreneurs have a lot of challenges including inadequate financial capital, human resource challenges, intense competition in the market and inadequate government support. The study again found that female entrepreneurs were overcoming their challenges through borrowing from the banks and family and friends, recruiting and training competent staff and embarking on vigorous marketing strategies. The future of female entrepreneurship in Ghana looks bright providing all stakeholders particularly government and financial institutions play their roles effectively.

Keywords: Female, Entrepreneurs, Challenges, Entrepreneurship, Business.

Introduction

43 44 Bylon Abeeku Bamfo and Felicity Asiedu-Appiah almost every country. They have created and managed organisations that serve their communities and create employment for people. They have brought innovation to bear on the creation and management of organizations. In the words of Winn (2005, 1), “they have instituted innovative systems and schedules”. Small and mediums enterprises, in the light of this, provide a good starting point for the mobilization of women talents, especially in rural areas, as entrepreneurs. Moreover, small and medium enterprises can provide an avenue for the testing and development of the entrepreneurial ability of women (Tambunan 2008). Despite the critical contribution of women entrepreneurs to the development of world economies and more importantly developing economies, they face a lot of problems that leaves the business world still a man’s domain. The result is that women-owned businesses tend to be smaller in all dimensions compared to their men counterparts. That is to say, women owned businesses tend to be smaller than men-owned businesses in terms of factors such as the size of the venture, the number of employees, the amount of revenues and the list continues (Winn, 2005). Mohanty (2009) indicates that there are countless problems that militate against women entrepreneurs. This in a way adversely affects their innovative abilities.

Research Objectives and Questions

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges and prospects of female entrepreneurs in Ghana. In this context, female entrepreneurs are taken to mean women who have established and are running their own venture. The study developed four main specific objectives. Firstly, the study sought to identify why and how the women established their own ventures. The second was to identify the main challenges of female entrepreneurs. The third objective was to find out what the steps the female entrepreneurs were taken to circumvent their challenges. The final objective was to determine what the future holds for female entrepreneurs in Ghana from the perspective of the female entrepreneurs. The objectives above resulted in the development of the research questions. The first question was; what motivated the women to decide to establish their own businesses and how they entered they did it? The next question was, what were the main challenges that the female entrepreneurs were facing? What steps were the women were taking to overcome their challenges was another question. Has female entrepreneurship got any future in Ghana? This final question was worth asking.

Literature Review

Who are Women Entrepreneurs?

Mohanty (2009, p 139), define women entrepreneurs as “the women or group of women who take initiative to set up a business enterprise and to run it smoothly”. The Government of India defines a women entrepreneur as “an enterprise owned and controlled by a woman and having a minimum financial interest of 51 percent of the employment generated in the enterprise to women” (Mohanty 2009). This definition has been criticised on the grounds that it is discriminatory. The two definitions, therefore, create a link between entrepreneurship and business ownership. Two main characteristics of women entrepreneurship in developing countries have been identified by Tambunan (2008). First, is the comparison between small and medium enterprises and large enterprises as far as women entrepreneurship is concerned. Small and medium enterprises are more important for the development of entrepreneurial talents of women than large organisation. Second, the female/male ratio is generally higher in small and medium enterprises than in large enterprises. This reason behind this fact is that, there is the likelihood for women to be involved in informal activities in less developed countries than their men counterparts. Informal activities in developing countries are performed predominantly by small enterprises, either as self employed individuals employers or paid/unpaid workers. Investigating the Challenges and Prospects of Female Entrepreneurs in Ghana 45

Increase in the Number of Women Entrepreneurs

The number of women entrepreneurs has been steadily increasing for the past two decades (Jome, Donahue & Siegel, 2006). The number of businesses owned by women is growing with women-owned businesses now accounting for 35 percent of all businesses, generate $2.3 trillion in sales, and employ 19.1 million people in the United States of America. In the United Kingdom, businesses owned by women now stand at 26 percent of all businesses (Laming & Kuehl, 2007). The issue of gender has becoming a very important issue in entrepreneurship. There has been a significant increase in the number of women or females in self employment. There is evidence to suggest that women are now starting new businesses at a higher rate than men. The fact remains that women are starting businesses in the United States at twice the rate of all businesses and are remaining in business longer than their men counterpart. The growth rate of women-owned businesses is higher than that of their men counterpart (Hisrich, Peters & Shepherd 2006, Gatewood et al., 2008). Buttner (2001) has put forward that women business owners in the United States of America employ more people than all the Fortune 500 companies combined. In other words, the people employed by the 500 hundred large and successful companies in the USA cannot be compared to the total number of people employed by businesses owned by women (Gatewood et al., 2008). The International Labour Organisation (ILO) database indicates that almost 95 per cent of all small enterprises in developing countries are owned or performed by women as self-employed, though the percentage varies from country to country (Tambunan , 2008). Lambing and Kuekl (2007), discusses the issue that the increase in the number of female entrepreneurs is not only limited to the developed world. This wind of change is blowing across the globe. They make mention of the fact that in India, a study has found out that 10 percent of all Indian entrepreneurs are women and was expected to increase to 20% by 2009. Gatewood et al. (2008) observes that the power and influence of female entrepreneurs to the economies of the world are noteworthy. Women are making substantial contribution to all sectors of the economies of the world as entrepreneurs (Brush et al, 2006d). There is also an indication of women comprising the majority of the “small-scale economy” in Africa. This small-scale economy contributes to the gross domestic products by 40 percent in most of the countries of Africa.

Reasons for the Growth of Women Entrepreneurs

The increase number of women-owned enterprises is partly as a result of the increase in the number of women in education and the fact that women have taken their education to higher level. Another contributory factor is the economic pressures of the world which have affected most women all over the world especially those in the developing world (Manning, 1998; Oey,1998). The old notions of just managing the home and not having any career have been relegated to the background by most “modern” women. Women across the globe now seek both career and family (Winn, 2005). Other reasons for the increase in the number of women entrepreneurs are that women seek flexibility and autonomy, satisfaction and personal growth and income and prestige (Winn 2004, Orhan & Scott, 2001). There is also the idea of women starting their own businesses because of a novel idea or innovation. The corporate world has been very tough with demanding targets for employees as a result of companies trying to stay competitive and to maintain and increase their customer base. Some women are not able to combine this with the management of their homes, especially in Africa where the management of the home is an exclusive preserve of the woman. This more often results in frustration. This is because, women tend to rate their families more important than their career ( Konrad & Langton, 1997). Many businesses have, therefore, been borne by women out of frustration with the corporate world (Winn 2005).

46 Bylon Abeeku Bamfo and Felicity Asiedu-Appiah

Problems of Women Entrepreneurs

Despite the critical contribution of women entrepreneurs to the development of world economies and more importantly developing economies, they face a lot of problems that leaves the business world still a man’s domain. The result is that women-owned businesses tend to be smaller in all dimensions compared to their men counterparts. That is to say, women owned businesses tend to be smaller than men-owned businesses in terms of factors such as the size of the venture, the number of employees, the amount of revenues and the list continues (Winn 2005). Mohanty (2009) indicates that there are countless problems that militate against women entrepreneurs. This in a way adversely affects their innovative abilities. Most of these problems are more prevalent in developing countries and this has resulted in women lagging behind men in almost all business activities. For example, Winn (2005) observes that though entrepreneurial activity among women is attracting world-wide attention, it is not uncommon to see women lagging behind their men counterparts in business ownership and economic independence on every continent. Thornhill and Amit (2003) and Carter and Anderson (2001) admit that there are a lot of problems facing women world-wide. However, they are of the view that the two biggest of the problems facing women as they start and run their businesses are funding and family support. They support their argument by stating that notwithstanding women’s level of education, experience and technical expertise, private equity lenders as well as venture capitalist still have some scepticism about the commitment of women to their enterprises, their qualification for leadership of high growth businesses and their overall ability in garnering resources that are important for the growth of their businesses. Mohanty (2009) indicates some of the problems women entrepreneurs in developing countries. Some of the problems are, but not limited to male dominated society, low risk bearing capacity, lack of encouragement from family, discrimination in their upbringing, lack of education and lack of access to funds. Other writers such as Tambunan (2008) and Suharyo (2005) have studied the problems of women entrepreneurs in the developing world and have indicated that among other things that, women in the developing world face the problem of low level of education and lack of training opportunities. For women living in rural areas, there are still many socio-cultural and religious taboos that prevent women who can and should have access to formal education from doing so. Related to the socio-cultural constraints is the issue of women having the heavy burden of household chores. Most women in the developing world have more children who need to be catered for. This has been the traditional duty of the woman and continues to be. Women, therefore, have fewer hours of free time compared to their men counterparts. Even where they have the time, women are supposed to play their roles as wives and what that means is that in almost all decision, including business, they have to refer to their husbands. Lack of access to credit from financial institutions is another bane for women entrepreneurs in the developing world. It has been established that that one of the major problems of women entrepreneurs all over the world is the acquisition of resources; particularly, financial resource. Women traditionally have found it difficult to raise financial capital for their ventures and to date only a small percentage of women succeed in raising venture capital (Brush et al. 2004). This therefore has resulted in many businesses owned by women clustered in the ‘smallest’ category of businesses (Greene et al. 2001). Women-owned businesses has been lagging behind those of their male counterparts at every step of development despites their size and impact (Brush et al. 2006). The problem of women entrepreneurs is not limited to only the developing world. Women entrepreneurs in other parts of the world-developed world-are facing challenges that are somewhat similar to those in the developing world. For example, Fuller-Love (2006) report that the level of female entrepreneurship in Ireland and Wales is comparatively low. One would expect that with the emergence of the internet and/or the development of information and communication technology; access to information will not be a problem to entrepreneurs, particularly female entrepreneurs. However, Blenker, Dreisler and Nielson (2003) put forward that access to information and education are problems for female entrepreneurs. Investigating the Challenges and Prospects of Female Entrepreneurs in Ghana 47

The Need for Women Empowerment

There is, therefore, the need for women empowerment through enterprise. In other words, an enabling or favourable condition should be created for women to be motivated for accomplishing entrepreneurial task by taking personal responsibility. Women should have access to resources and markets, actual ownership and control (Mohanty 2009). Carr and Chen (2004) admit the fact that there is no single remedy that will adequately address the complex mix of problems that militate against women entrepreneurs. They, however, are of the view that, unless economic policies and legal structures recognise the challenges of women entrepreneurs, women-owned businesses will continue struggle to make any meaningful leap in accessing finance and gain recognition and the current social and economic biases will persist. The onus, therefore, lies on policy makers, particularly those in the developing world to come out with policy and programmes that are geared towards the building of the capacity of women entrepreneurs so they can compete favourably with their male counterparts. Jalbert (2000) and Schlogl (2004) in their respective research have come out with the fact that policy makers have been concerned with the barriers women face as the make the attempt to act entrepreneurially or start their own businesses since there is a direct link between women participation in the economy and a country’s economic development.

Distinguishing Characteristics of Women Entrepreneurs

Hisrich, Peters and Shepherd (2006) point out that there is no sharp distinction between the characteristics distinguishing female and male entrepreneurs. In other words, female and male entrepreneurs happen to have almost the same characteristics. For example, Covin and Slevin (1991) observe that in terms of entrepreneurial traits women are similar to their men counterparts. However, there are some characteristics that are peculiar to female entrepreneurs. The main distinguishing characteristics of female entrepreneurs lie in the area of motivation, business skill and occupational backgrounds. Factors in the start-up process of a business for female and male entrepreneurs are also different, especially in such areas as support system, sources of funds, and problems. In terms of personality, there are strong similarities between male and female entrepreneurs. Both male and female entrepreneurs are energetic, goal-oriented and independent. In making comparison between female and male entrepreneurs and/or women-owned and men- owned businesses; Lambing and Kuehl (2007) posit that generally, businesses owned by women are smaller in size. Several reasons account for why businesses owned by women are smaller in size. The main reasons are differences in motivation between men and women, the age of the business, the industry chosen and possible obstacles. Writing on motivation for becoming an entrepreneur, Lambing and Kuehl (2007), indicate that there are countless reasons for the dramatic increase in women-owned businesses. Some of the most common reasons include dissatisfaction with corporate life, a desire for balance in work and home and desire for challenge. Fuller-Love (2006) contributes to the discussion by indicating that some of the motivations for running businesses by females include flexibility and better life style. There is also evidence to show that women entrepreneurs differ from their men counterparts with regards to the kind of venture they set up. In other words, women and men entrepreneurs are contrasted based on the sectors they prefer. Fuller-Love, (2006) indicates that female entrepreneurs are more concentrated in the retail, tourism and hospitality sectors. Only a small per cent of these female entrepreneurs are found or involved in manufacturing. They go ahead to indicate that in general, women entrepreneurs are more likely to be in the service sector, for example retail, health and beauty. Winn (2005) adds to this argument by emphasising that women are at the forefront of the service sector of economies of the world. Commenting on sectoral differences among female and male entrepreneurs, Minniti, Arenius and Langowitz (2006) are of the view that women are more likely to engage in consumer oriented ventures than men. In other words, the consumer-oriented sector attracts more women than men. Another area of difference stem from entrepreneurial motivations. Buttner and Moore (1997), reports that women entrepreneurs rate self fulfilment as their most important measure of success, followed by profits; whereas their men counterparts value profits the most. 48 Bylon Abeeku Bamfo and Felicity Asiedu-Appiah

The Competitive Advantages of Women Entrepreneurs

Women entrepreneurs have competitive advantage. In other words, the peculiar characteristics of women entrepreneurs give them an edge over their men counterparts. Proponents of this argument such as Daniel (2004) is of the view that female entrepreneurs are more likely to do better because they have better communication and (Frank, 1988; Heilman et al. 1998) interpersonal and/or people skills. He again indicates that women have better networking skills when it comes to building relationship with others and are therefore likely to create satisfied and loyal customers. Women are believed to be more transformational as opposed to transactional (Bass, 1991), and are shown to be more participatory and democratic in their styles of leadership than their men counterparts (Eagley & Johnson, 1990; Hegleson, 1990; Rosener, 1990). Discussing the style of leadership of women entrepreneurs, Rosener (1995) describes their leadership style as interactive, encouraging or ascribing to consensus building, comfortable with ambiguity and sharing power and information. Women leaders more often than not encourage feedback from different directions or sources; they tend to develop reward systems that value group as well as individual contributions and put measures in place to empower employees at all level of the organisation. Bancroft (1995) is also of the view that women adopt a holistic, process oriented approach to managing their ventures unlike their men counterparts. Fuller-Love (2006) is however, of the view that although women have better social contacts men are more confident and have better business networks.

Research Methodology

The focus of the study was on female entrepreneurs. The study defined female entrepreneurs to denote women who have established and are running their own venture. In all thirty female entrepreneurs were selected for the study. The study area was the Kumasi metropolis-the second largest metropolis in Ghana. The sampling strategy adopted was purposive or judgement sampling. Leedy and Ormrod (2005) have conjectured that qualitative researchers are intentionally non-random in their selection of sources of data. Instead, their sampling is purposeful. Women who have established and running their own businesses were purposively selected. The researcher interviewed all the respondents .The interview revolved around a list of topics on an interview guide for the respondents to express themselves. In a sense, the study followed what Lofland and Lofland (1994) refer to as ‘guided conversation’. The study adopted the thematic approach in the analysis of data. The whole process started with the transcription of the interviews. After the transcription of the interviews, the study followed the steps proposed by Creswell (1994). First, the study identified those statements that related to the challenges and prospects of female entrepreneurs. Second, the statements were grouped into what Creswell (1994) refer to as “meaning units”. The researcher grouped the segments into categories that reflect the research objectives and questions. Third, the researcher sought divergent perspective by looking and considering various ways in which the women expressed their views. Fourth is the construction of a composite; which means that the researcher used the identified meanings to develop an overall description of the subject. The final result was, therefore, a general description of the subject under study as described by the respondents.

Results and Discussion

It has been widely acknowledged that the number of women entrepreneurs has increased and will keep on increasing in all sectors of the economies of the developed as well as developing world (Jome, Donahue & Siegel, 2006). Definitely, some factors must have motivated these women who hitherto depended on their husbands to create and run their own businesses. This study, therefore, sought to unearth, first of all, why and how these women entered into businesses. Investigating the Challenges and Prospects of Female Entrepreneurs in Ghana 49

Why and How Female Entrepreneurs Started their Businesses

The data collected showed that majority of respondents decided to be entrepreneurs because they had the desire to be their own bosses and to control their own destiny. This was reflected in their responses. For example one respondent said; “I do not want to work for somebody, I want to make profit for myself and I want to make my own decisions”. Another respondent commented that; “Because I needed to work for myself and be able to employ others and also keeping my dreams of becoming a manager of my own company alive”. This is consistent with the notion that women are not only managing homes but also are seeking to have career as a way of having the flexibility and autonomy and seeking ways for self- development (Winn 2004, Orhan & Scott, 2000). In addition to the desire to be their own bosses, the women also decided to run their own businesses because they wanted to pursue a novel business idea; improve their financial status; take advantage of an opportunity in the market; be socially responsible and create employment for others. Some supporting comments from the respondents are as follows: “Because the profit entrepreneurs make are higher than salaried workers”; “I want to become self- employed and help other unemployed people”; and “ It provides a means to give something back to society and to fulfil a personal dream”. These motivational factors agree with the findings of some researchers, who have asserted among other things that female business start-ups are engendered by their passion for their novel ideas to be transformed into economics goods, to have financial freedom and to help in reducing the unemployment menace that has bedevilled many African countries. It must, however, be noted that financial freedom which featured prominently as one of the motivational factors for Ghanaian female entrepreneurs is inconsistent with the findings of Lovoie (1992) by positing that the primary aim of many women in starting a business in not financial. With regards to how the women entrepreneurs entered into business; majority of the women interviewed indicated that they had entered their businesses through family connection and/or inheritance. One respondent indicated that “ I was introduced into it by my mother who was first in the same business”. There were other comments like “My father encouraged me because he has already been in the business for almost 10 years ago”. “I inherited it from my dad”. “I inherited it from my mother”. “I got into this business through my brother”. These comments point to the fact that the extended family system in Ghana and the developing world has a very crucial role to play in getting a lot of women into starting their own businesses. The poor nature of the Ghanaian economy demands that members of the family get support from one another particularly the immediate family. Without this support, many women will end up becoming house wives to the detriment of the economy since it has been established that women have competitive advantage over their men counterparts as owner managers (Daniel, 2004; Eagley & Johnson, 1990; Hegleson, 1990; Rosener, 1990). In addition to family networking and inheritance, other women became entrepreneurs through their own initiatives without any family connections. There were those whose interest and passion for a particular business brought them into the entrepreneurial limelight. In support of these, there were comments (respectively) such as: “I developed the idea on my own after obtaining a soft loan from the bank”. “I love fashion and I had the passion for it when I was growing up so I decided to learn how to make all sort of clothing”. “I started as a result of the opportunity I had from acquiring a shop by the road side and also because there was no such business in my town”. “Got experience from formal employer”. Through these various means female entrepreneurs have entered into a lot of businesses of their own. The study has shown that these are present in all fields of endeavours in their own small ways. Thus empowering these women will be a prerequisite for entrepreneurship development in Ghana and other developing countries (Mohanty 2009; Carr & Chen, 2004). Even though research has suggested that policy makers have been concerned with the barriers women face as they make the attempt to act entrepreneurially or start their own businesses (Jalbert, 2000; Schlogl; 2004), there is the need for more pragmatic measure aimed at empowering women to be in place by policy makers in Ghana and the developing world. 50 Bylon Abeeku Bamfo and Felicity Asiedu-Appiah

The Challenges

Female entrepreneurs, particularly those in the developing world and Ghana for that matter are beset with a lot of challenges (Mohanty, 2009). Thus this study sought to find out the specific challenges female entrepreneurs in Ghana face. This study categorises the challenges into financial and non-financial. Majority of the respondents interviewed cited finance as a major challenge that they face as entrepreneurs. The specific financial problems they face are inadequate capital, high interest rates on loans, difficulty in accessing funds and lack of collateral (Carter & Anderson, 2001). Some of the comments from the respondents which reflected their financial difficulties are as follows: “The capital invested is not adequate to generate the profit I need. Interests on loan are too high”. “I am unable to purchase products in large quantities to be able to store for scarce periods due to inadequate funds”. “My problem is financial, I need to invest in machinery but since it is self-employment, the banks do not give loans easily”. “Getting financial assistance, that is, loans from bank to expand the business is difficult and very expensive”. unwillingness on the part of the financial institutions to provide finance for the women could be attributed to the lack of the requisite skills on the part of the women to be able to prepare convincing business plans and/or provide the necessary information. Some financial institutions have had the experience of small businesses defaulting in the payment of loans. In addition SMEs are sometimes seen by the financial institutions as risky and not profitable enough (Thornhill & Amit, 2003). The other challenges (non-financial) were human resource, technology, unfair competition, inadequate government support and problems with family support. Female entrepreneurs in Ghana are finding it difficult attracting competent, qualified, experienced and trustworthy workers or employees. For example it was indicated one respondent indicated that, “My main challenge has to do with human resource because I do not have enough staff to meet growing customers and demand. Another one said, “The sales boys/girls are not trustworthy. The least opportunity they get they want to dupe me”. These human resource challenges of the women may be due to the fact they do not have the financial capacity to pay competitive wages. In addition to this, they are unable to provide the best conditions of service (Carter & Anderson, 2001). With regards to technology, respondents cited inadequate modern technology as one of the problems they face. With the world drifting towards technological domain in all spheres of life women entrepreneurs cannot but become technologically compliant. The problem, however, is that some of these technologies are not available to them because they lack the financial resources to procure them. With regards to unfair competition the study revealed that competitors, particularly large organizations reduce their prices to attract customers which the women entrepreneurs find it difficult to do because of their size and financial capacity. It was made known by one of the respondents that “For expansion purposes, competitors could reduce their prices of which I cannot”. It was also said, “Due to the numerous publishing firms around it becomes a challenge for us to maintain our price”. Governments in most countries, both developed and developing are throwing their weight behind the development agenda of small businesses including women entrepreneurs (Abdullah & bin Bakar, 2000). The Ghanaian government since independence has been embarking on pragmatic measures to improve the activities of small businesses (Boachie-Mensah & Marfo Yiadom, 2007). The women entrepreneurs, however, were of the view that the government’s support is not enough. For example, they expected the government to provide them with concessionary loans or find ways of helping the financially. To this end one respondent commented that, “There is lack of government support since there are no specific programmes by the government aimed at supporting women entrepreneurs”. Thus, the call for women empowerment must start from the government so with the help of other enterprise support organisation. This will go a long way to build the capacity of women to grow their businesses and thus contribute to the economic development of Ghana. The last challenge which is peculiar to women in Ghana and Africa for that matter is inadequate support from family members. The culture of Ghana has since time immemorial relegated women to the background. Even though there are attempts by the government and other nongovernmental organisations to nib this practice in the bud, the notion is yet to be done away with fully. Women entrepreneurs Investigating the Challenges and Prospects of Female Entrepreneurs in Ghana 51 therefore continue to have inadequate support from their family members. It was revealed by of the women that “Even though I have workers who support me, balancing work and household duties can be stressful. Because I have a husband and children I am usually not working on a full time basis and therefore the daily running and sales may not be truly reflected”.

Management of the Problems

Since challenges are inevitable as far as the activities of female entrepreneurs are concerned, the study delved into how these women are managing or circumventing their challenges. With regards to the financial challenges, it was realised that the women majority of the women are still relying on the banks to solve their financial challenges. One of the women mentioned that “I try a much as possible to win the trust of bankers by paying back loans and keeping proper accounts to attract more loans” In addition to these some of the women said the ploughed back their profits and sometimes rely on family members for financial assistance. The reliance on the banks by the women for financial assistance is due to the fact that the other sources such as family members do not provide enough financial support. Some family members may also want to meddle in the affairs of the businesses which undermine the independence of the women in running their businesses which they so much relish. (Carter & Anderson, 2001) Despite the challenges the women face in securing loans form the banks, they will continue to depend on the commercial banks for financial assistance. Human capital is vitally important for women entrepreneurs in growing and developing heir ventures (Bartlett & Bukvic, 2001). But as indicated earlier, these women do not have the human resource with the requisite skills and abilities due the fact that they are not able to pay them competitive wages. To this end, the study revealed that the women are embarking on training their staff on the job and making sure that the right calibre of staff is recruited . “I try as much as possible to provide in-service training and effective supervision to my staff”. “I always ensure effective recruitment and training”. These were some of the comments from the women in this regard. In addition, the women indicated that they are embarking on effective marketing activities as a way of gaining competitive advantage and making sure that they continue to upgrade their knowledge in their areas of operation in order to keep themselves abreast with modern business methods and/or operations. One woman said, “ I am trying to work up to my best capacity in the industry against my competitors ”. Another one said, “I am acquiring extra knowledge and for us to adopt new technology springing up in the industry ”.

The Prospects

The study further investigated the prospect of female entrepreneurship in Ghana from the point of view of the female entrepreneurs. Majority of them were of the view that the future of female entrepreneurship in Ghana was bright. They indicated this against the backdrop that female entrepreneurs are hardworking, determined and focused. They are able to devote much of their time and resources for their businesses. They also spend their profits judiciously. For example it was said that, “Female entrepreneurs in Ghana have a great future since they devote much of their time and resources for their businesses”. It was also revealed, “The future is very bright. We do things with commitment and dedication so I know women can go places if they mean to”. However, the women entrepreneurs were of the view that, the brightness of the future of female entrepreneurship will depend not only on the women being hardworking, but also if the enterprise supports organisations, particularly the government and financial institutions play their roles effectively . “The future looks good, but government and financial institutions should be able to provide microfinance schemes for female entrepreneurs”, it was said. “Unless there are interventions to support women, very few will be able to make it”, said another woman. Besides, the women were of the view that even though female entrepreneurs are doing what they can to succeed, they do not have to rest on their oars but will have to put in much effort in running and/or managing their ventures. They believe female entrepreneurs 52 Bylon Abeeku Bamfo and Felicity Asiedu-Appiah will get to the height that they want to reach if they are able to educate themselves and/or relentlessly improve their skills in their areas of endeavour. Others also indicated that family support is very important for the success of female entrepreneurship in Ghana. Finally, the success of female entrepreneurship in Ghana will depend to a large extent on effective succession planning. This is explained by the fact that, most of the time entrepreneurs in Ghana and the developing world for that matter die with their businesses. Comments such as these were made by the women: “The future looks very successful for female entrepreneurs if only they ensure to do their best in their working field”. “Female entrepreneurs in Ghana can bring about development and growth into the country through their businesses if they are given the necessary family support”. “The future looks good if only proper succession plans specifically where your children are trained to take over are in place”.

Conclusion

Entrepreneurship and female entrepreneurship for that matter is pivotal for the development of businesses in Ghana and the economy of Ghana. The large businesses we see today were small businesses of yesterday. The contribution of female entrepreneurs therefore, cannot be relegated to the background. Majority of the female entrepreneurs have started their ventures through family inheritance and/or support. Moreover, they had started their businesses because they wanted to be their own boss and to control their destiny. Even though female entrepreneurs are doing their best to successfully manage their ventures, there are many challenges they face. Among some of the challenges are difficulty in accessing credit from the financial institutions, problems with human resource, inadequate technology deployment and inadequate family support. Despite these challenges, the female entrepreneurs are leaving no stone unturned to circumvent these challenges. The success of these female entrepreneurs, therefore, depend on the willingness of the female entrepreneurs to be committed to their ventures through continuing skills development and effective management of these ventures. Besides, the success of female entrepreneurship will depend on the readiness of enterprise support organisations such as the financial institutions and the government to put pragmatic measures in place to provide bespoke support to female entrepreneurs.

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