Entrepreneurial Characteristics and Business Profile of Women Owned Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): A Case Study of the Tamale Metropolitan Area

Abstract

Despite the vital role of women entrepreneurs in the economic development of their families and countries, it has been revealed that they have low business performance compared to their male counterparts. In this paper, an analysis of the business profile and entrepreneurial characteristics of women owned Small and Medium Enterprises in the Tamale Metropolis has been carried out. A cross-sectional design was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of women entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs who have benefited from microcredit were selected using simple random sampling. They were then categorized based on their economic activities. The study found that, the level of education of the respondents was generally low; over 69% had no formal education, 20% had primary education, 9.5% had secondary and 1% had tertiary education. Furthermore, 54.2% of the enterprises were managed by the entrepreneurs’ themselves whiles 7.8% were run by the owner and other non-family employees. Also Only about 3% of the businesses surveyed were registered.