FEMALE RURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: FOCUS ON THE SUCCESSFUL CASE OF “DOCES TAMBABA”

Abstract

Women with an entrepreneurial spirit and passion are able to stimulate economic activity in rural regions, even when driven by need. In this context, Brazil is a country where being an entrepreneur through need has gained increasing relevance in the economy of rural communities, where women crucially become empowered to contribute to wealth creation by creating their own job. This study focuses on a successful business led by two black women in Brazil. Given the characteristics of the business here studied, netnography was used as the scientific methodology, something that has been used to study and observe elements of rural communities. The results obtained show that women are beginning to become empowered in their rural communities, managing attractive, successful businesses, sustaining their families and contributing to their community’s economic growth. The business studied here underlines that the contact with tourists was very motivating, and what is more, the entrepreneurial process brought a number of benefits to the rural settlement. There were gains in the fields of health, leisure, income, family life, employment, education and self-esteem, and benefits understood by the local inhabitants.