Enterprising behavior of enterpriseless rural women entrepreneurs of Khyber Pukhtan Khawa of Pakistan

Abstract

The study intends to determine the enterprising behavior of enterprise-less rural women entrepreneurs dwelling in remote areas of Pakistan for the purpose of assessing the enterprising behavior possessed by these women entrepreneurs, their capacity as women to handle the marketing of their businesses and finally the factors that influence their decision making environment. The concept of rural women entrepreneurship is an emerging phenomenon and gaining popularity in this era of economic recession. World is embarking on promoting the rural entrepreneurship among women in order to control the economic imbalance in the society and also to empower women socially and economically. The phenomenon of rural women entrepreneurship in Pakistan is very much under-explored and the policy strategies to stimulate the rural women interest in entrepreneurship are not rightly directed in the absence of a base line research. This study, therefore, intends to determine the enterprising behavior possessed by these rural women entrepreneurs, their capacity to handle the marketing of their businesses and finally the factors that influence their decision making environment.Primary data were collected from the adjacent remote areas of the two selected cities of Khyber Pukhtan Khawa (Abbotabad and Manshera) of Pakistan through structured interviews with enterprise-less women entrepreneurs.The finding of the study suggests that lack of or no understanding about the entrepreneurial process is seriously affecting the enterprising behavior of rural women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Moreover, their inabilities to handle the management and marketing affairs of their businesses have adversely affected growth and profitability of their businesses.