Entrepreneurial Journeys Research Articles

The Impact of Mentorship and Funding Support on Stimulating Entrepreneurship Motivation among Family Members

This study investigates and assesses factors that influence entrepreneur’s motivationto start up a project and explores government support programs. A study model wasdeveloped, and a quantitative approach was used for this purpose to collect data frompotential entrepreneurs among family members. Two influential factors were used in thestudy that would impact entrepreneur’s motivation which are mentoring and funding support.This study is based on the expectancy theory to investigate impact on entrepreneur’smotivation. A simple random sampling approach was used on the targeted population andstudy results were tested to determine their validity. The findings show that the existenceof mentorship and accessible funding support have a favorable relationship and remarkableimpact on motivation of entrepreneurs especially in the early stages of the project. Thestudy indicates that entrepreneur’s ideas and goals would not be achieved without properfunding. Potential entrepreneurs may not be able to start their own business people andface the risks in the absence of financial support. It is critical to enhance the understandingof potential entrepreneurs in the early stages on how such substantial efforts might benefittheir entrepreneurial journeys. The study suggests focusing on mentorship and funding supportprograms to stimulate potential entrepreneurs in Bahrain. This step can attract andincrease investment in the market and contribute to economic growth of the country.

Elevating Your Business: Insights from Successful Entrepreneurs in Bangladesh

Entrepreneurship is increasingly recognized as a vital driver of economic growth and innovation. In today's dynamic business environment, strategic thinking and entrepreneurial acumen are indispensable for navigating challenges and capitalizing on opportunities. This paper delves into the journeys of five successful entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, shedding light on their strategies for scaling up businesses and achieving remarkable success. The primary objective of this research is to elucidate the strategic pathways employed by successful entrepreneurs in Bangladesh to elevate their businesses from modest beginnings to thriving enterprises. By analyzing the experiences of these entrepreneurs and integrating them with existing strategic entrepreneurship models, the study aims to develop a comprehensive framework that captures the essence of entrepreneurial success. This research adopts a qualitative approach, drawing on case studies of the five entrepreneurs and a thorough review of existing literature on strategic entrepreneurship. Thematic analysis is utilized to identify common patterns, key factors, and critical elements contributing to business growth and success. The existing strategic entrepreneurship model is then refined and augmented based on insights gleaned from the entrepreneurs' experiences. The findings reveal significant commonalities among the entrepreneurial journeys, including the importance of determination, resourcefulness, value creation, and continuous improvement. The newly developed model synthesizes these insights, providing a structured framework for aspiring entrepreneurs to scale up their businesses strategically. In this study underscores the pivotal role of entrepreneurial Mindset and strategic decision-making in driving business success. The proposed model offers actionable insights for entrepreneurs and policymakers seeking to foster a conducive environment for entrepreneurship and economic development. By leveraging the strategic pathways outlined in the model, entrepreneurs can navigate the complexities of business growth and achieve sustainable success in today's competitive landscape.

A disaggregated view of soft skills: Entrepreneurship education systems of Africa

ABSTRACT Much of the literature on entrepreneurship education describes the teaching concept as a whole, which means that additional work must be done to tease out its individual components. Accordingly, this study focuses on soft skills—a core component of entrepreneurship education that represents entrepreneurial behaviors, attitudes, and attributes. It examines the mechanisms underlying soft skills and entrepreneurial readiness by drawing on a mediated model of entrepreneurship education and 300 observations on aspiring South African entrepreneurs. Regression tests reveal that while soft skills determine the entrepreneurial readiness of these entrepreneurs, their impact on their ability to start, innovate, finance, and grow new ventures is mediated by the entrepreneurial processes that define their entrepreneurial journeys. This has academic, policy, and social implications as it increases the importance of developing contextual insights into the facets of soft skills in an African country to inspire policy reforms that support African entrepreneurship.

The Effectiveness of Mentoring Programs on Empowering Women Entrepreneurs in Tanzania: A Case of Babati District Council

Purpose: Women entrepreneurs in Tanzania are making significant contributions to their local economies, driving innovation, and creating employment opportunities. However, they still face numerous challenges, including limited access to financing, inadequate business skills, and gender-based discrimination.To address these challenges and unlock the full potential of women entrepreneurs, mentorship programs have emerged as a powerful mechanism.
 Methodology: The study examined the effect of empowering women entrepreneurs through mentoring programs, a case study of Babati District Council. The study used mixed research approach and employed sequential explanatory research design. Descriptive and regression analysis were used to analyze the data and presented by tables and figures.
 Findings: The findings revealed the strong relationship between mentorship programs and women entrepreneurs' empowerment, as evidenced by a high R-squared value of 0.76. This means that approximately 76% of the variation in women entrepreneurs' empowerment can be explained by mentorship programs. The significant relationship between mentorship programs and women entrepreneurs' empowerment is further supported by a low p-value of 0.001, indicating that the observed relationship is unlikely to be due to chance.The study concluded mentorship programs have a significant impact on women entrepreneurs' empowerment.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: From the findings, it recommended fostering mentorship opportunities to support and uplift women in their entrepreneurial journeys. This study has contributed to the advancement of knowledge and practice in the field of mentoring programs for women entrepreneurs in Tanzania. The research has provided valuable insights and recommendations that can guide policymakers, practitioners, and researchers in their efforts to support women entrepreneurs. The study proposed a theoretical framework that elucidates the means by which mentoring programs can empower women entrepreneurs. It also identified crucial elements of effective mentoring programs, including regular meetings, clearly defined goals and expectations, active listening, and constructive feedback. Additionally, the study pushed for policies that foster an enabling environment for women entrepreneurs, including access to financing, education, and networking opportunities. Such policies can facilitate the growth and development of women-led enterprises.

Cultivating Entrepreneurship and Startup Culture: A Case Study of Thiagarajar College of Engineering

Abstract--- In an era where innovation and entrepreneurship play a pivotal role in driving economic growth and societal progress, educational institutions are increasingly recognizing the importance of fostering an entrepreneurial mindset among their students. This case study focuses on the exemplary efforts of Thiagarajar College of Engineering in Madurai to cultivate entrepreneurship and nurture a thriving startup culture within its campus. The study begins by delving into the college's strategic approach to curriculum development. It examines how Thiagarajar College of Engineering has integrated entrepreneurship-related courses and modules across various disciplines, equipping students with the knowledge and skills required to ideate, validate, and execute innovative business concepts. By analyzing the college's curriculum adaptation, this study sheds light on the methods employed to seamlessly integrate entrepreneurship education with technical learning. The role of industry collaborations in enriching the entrepreneurial ecosystem is another key aspect under scrutiny. The case study examines how the college has fostered partnerships with various startup companies. Furthermore, the case study explores the array of support systems established by the college to encourage students' entrepreneurial journeys. This includes the provision of mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs, access to seed funding and incubation facilities, and guidance on intellectual property protection. By investigating these support mechanisms, the study elucidates how Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE) empowers its students to transform their ideas into viable startups. Keywords— Entrepreneurship, Incubation, Seed funding.

Exploring Entrepreneurship Education in the Performing Arts: Perceptions of Nigerian Theatrepreneurs

Abstract:
 This study delves into the emerging field of entrepreneurship education in the performing arts, aiming to investigate current practices and evaluate the effectiveness of entrepreneurial endeavors within this domain. Focusing on Nigerian graduate and undergraduate prospective entrepreneurs, commonly referred to as theatrepreneurs, who pursue careers in drama, dancing, script writing, and other performing arts disciplines, the research utilizes qualitative methods. Forty purposefully selected respondents were interviewed, employing a mediated interview approach to identify theatrepreneurs' characteristics, motivations, and the significant challenges they encounter in their professional and entrepreneurial journeys. The findings demonstrate that participants opt for the performing arts primarily for personal career development rather than financial incentives. They highlight the benefits of talent development, confidence building, and professional growth. Nevertheless, the study identifies major obstacles such as time management, financial constraints, adaptation to the performing arts environment, unethical practices, and personal style, which significantly affect career development. Despite these challenges, respondents express optimism about the future of the profession. Based on the study's outcomes, it is recommended to introduce entrepreneurship education programs that nurture students' abilities to think creatively, reflectively, strategically, and analytically about their artistic practices. Such initiatives would further enhance professional career development within the performing arts industry.

Transforming entrepreneurial research: leveraging library research services and technology innovations for rapid information discovery

PurposeWith the aid of libraries, the research paper aims to assist businesses in swiftly and accurately acquiring knowledge and insights from scholarly literature to guide their inventive and decision-making processes. The foundation for achieving the goal is Connected Papers technology.Design/methodology/approachThe author's professional expertise in performing literature reviews using connected papers technology as well as using other ways, and corresponding with entrepreneurs and librarians impacted the article's research methodology.FindingsThe use of Connected Papers technology in the library context for helping entrepreneurs is discussed. Libraries and entrepreneurs could benefit from using Connected Papers technology to quickly compile pertinent data from scholarly literature to solve business challenges. According to the paper, adopting this technology can speed up information gathering and drastically reduce the time needed for business owners to search through bibliographic data-bases. Using this technology can help entrepreneurs at various phases of their entrepreneurial journeys and give libraries a productive way to assist business owners with their information needs.Originality/valueThis paper's novelty comes from its examination of the usage of connectedpapers.com technology to compile data from scholarly literature to assist entrepreneurs in solving their business problems. The useful piece of advice this paper offers entrepreneurs and librarians is what makes it valuable. By using connectedpapers.com technology, businesses may be able to get critical information from scholarly literature to foster a series of experimentation quickly and effectively. Also, librarians can help their patrons with systematic re-views and other research services by using this application.

Creating an entrepreneurial story in digital spaces: the journeys and experiences of social media entrepreneurs

ABSTRACT The emergence of digital technologies is transforming entrepreneurial processes and outcomes. This creates a plethora of research questions at the intersection of digital technologies and entrepreneurship. A key question is if existing entrepreneurial models are applicable to understanding digital entrepreneurship. In this study we provide novel insights by exploring the following research question: How are established models of the entrepreneurial journey and the entrepreneurial experience challenged by the proliferation of social media? We utilize the entrepreneurial journey model proposed by Morris and Kuratko (2020) and the ten characteristics of the entrepreneurial experience proposed by Morris et al., (2012) as reference tools to understand if traditional process-based approaches to entrepreneurship are still relevant within a social media digital context. We provide novel contributions to traditional descriptions of entrepreneurship by providing an augmented view through a digital lens. The findings illustrate that the proliferation of social media challenges our established theoretical understanding of both the entrepreneurial journey and the entrepreneurial experience. We also provide new insights into the lived experiences of social media entrepreneurs, who are a distinct type of entrepreneur, with very different entrepreneurial journeys and experiences compared to traditional entrepreneurs.

Social Capital and Innovative Performance in Networks: The Journey of Romanian SaaS Entrepreneurs

Abstract Entrepreneurship is increasingly acknowledged as a critical economic and growth driver. As a result, practitioners’ and scholars’ inquiry into the link between the entrepreneurial social network and its pursuit of innovation have gained momentum in developed economies. However, it remains scarce in the context of emergent economies. Drawing upon social network theory, this qualitative study explores this knowledge gap by examining how Romanian software as a service (SaaS) entrepreneurs enable innovative performance by using social capital in national and international entrepreneurial networks. This qualitative interpretative study relies on the experiences and practices shared by 24 Romanian SaaS entrepreneurs interviewed to expand our understanding of how these entrepreneurs use social capital-driven networks to achieve innovative performance in international markets. Feeling unsupported by a weak institutional entrepreneurial context, Romanian SaaS entrepreneurs build their international entrepreneurial journeys and achieve innovative performance extensively by relying on social capital-driven networks. This paper contributes to the emergent economies stream on entrepreneurship literature and regional entrepreneurship policies. These findings show that motivated to overcome the challenges of a weak institutional context and pursue their entrepreneurial path, these Romanian SaaS entrepreneurs’ international presence and innovative performance are relational manifestations of bonding and bridging social capital-based networks.

Indsights: A Window into the Indigenous Economy

In 2020, Indsights: A Window into the Indigenous Economy began as a collaboration between the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) and Humber College. The purpose is to highlight the contributions of Indigenous peoples to the economy through open educational resources in the form of case studies. Indigenous business owners are invited to participate in a qualitative interview to discuss their entrepreneurial journeys, which are then developed into multimedia case studies. Each entrepreneur plays an active role in the creation of their respective study and has the opportunity to provide feedback and input. Indsights aims to publish 15 case studies online, each including an interview video, written component, and teaching notes. In doing so, this initiative offers learners a wealth of accessible online resources filling a gap in available content on Indigenous entrepreneurs.

Community financing in entrepreneurship: A focus on women entrepreneurs in the developing world

Studies on the impact of group–based financing on women entrepreneurs in the developing world are underrepresented in entrepreneurship research. With this exploratory study, we focus on women entrepreneurship from a community financing perspective to account for the underlying mechanisms of a community financing scheme and its impact on women entrepreneurs in the developing world. Data generated by interviewing 75 women entrepreneurs in Nigeria’s gendered financial markets revealed that ‘Ajo’,––a community financing scheme shaped their entrepreneurial journeys, including their social structures. In their context, an overlay of prosocial acts of reciprocity, solidarity, collectivism, camaraderie, and trust underpinned how they pooled and shared financial resources. These findings contribute to our understanding of how women entrepreneurs engaged and interacted with a community financing scheme in their endeavours to promote their businesses in financial markets where gender biases existed. Such an understanding holds academic, policy, and social implications.

Development of Academic Atmosphere in Women's Small Enterprises in North Sumatra

This community service aims to develop the academic atmosphere of women entrepreneurs to have entrepreneurial competencies in overcoming challenges and developing their enterprises to become upgraded SMEs. This service was conducted in Medan City and Deli Serdang Regency with a total of 31 women’s small enterprises. This activity was carried out using qualitative descriptive methods from 5 tools, namely documents, focus group discussions (FGDs), interviews, observations, and workshops. The results of FGDs showed that women entrepreneurs needed to collaborate with universities to make affordable and quality products. The results of interviews and observations showed that they ran the enterprises because they wanted to get more income, dared to take calculated risks, had the competence, were able to take advantage of opportunities, and were able to face changes in society. These women entrepreneurs were also given training in the form of workshops to develop the academic atmosphere and increase competence in managing entrepreneurship by creating entrepreneurial journeys, namely the understanding of being successful entrepreneurs. Therefore, they can contribute to large companies.

Venture tales: Practical storytelling strategies underpinning entrepreneurial narratives

Narratives help entrepreneurs and potential venture supporters to make sense of new ventures and to frame entrepreneurial journeys. Despite current understanding of how narratives shape entrepreneurial outcomes, however, there is limited guidance about how entrepreneurs might craft their own narratives in practice. In this article, we identify six types of entrepreneurial narratives—(1) an identity narrative, (2) an opportunity narrative, (3) a projective narrative, (4) a failure narrative, (5) a pivot narrative, and (6) a resourcefulness narrative—and we detail practical storytelling strategies entrepreneurs can use to shape each of these narrative types. We then propose that entrepreneurs can combine, sequence, and revise these narratives as the entrepreneurial journey unfolds. Knowledge of how to strategically manage the full entrepreneurial narrative repertoire enables entrepreneurs to create meaning and value where there once was none and to capture that value over time as a venture grows.

Assessing the “entrepreneurship as emancipation” perspective among women in STEM

PurposeThe study examines the emancipatory potential of entrepreneurship for women in STEM who have experienced a mid-career break. As studies on this subject are rather scarce, it also makes an important contribution to the literature by providing key insights into the entrepreneurial journeys of women in STEM who have experienced a career break and have started their own enterprises. The findings could be used by governments to intervene in the identified areas of difficulty and to facilitate the entrepreneurial endeavours of women in order to bring this community back into the workforce.Design/methodology/approachThe study maps the entrepreneurial journeys of 23 women with a STEM background who turned into entrepreneurs after experiencing a career break. Qualitative data was collected through personal interviews with women entrepreneurs and was then analysed to interpret the results.FindingsWhile the study confirms the emancipatory potential of entrepreneurship among well-educated middle-class women with a STEM background who face constraints related to career advancement and work–life balance, it also provides insights on various aspects related to their entrepreneurial development. This includes aspects such as their motivation to start a business, major barriers they face in developing their businesses and the strategies they use to handle those barriers. Suggestions for policy development are also proposed.Originality/valueIn addition to studying the entrepreneurial aspect of a rather underexamined segment of women in STEM who have experienced a career break, the study also examines the scope of the emancipatory potential of entrepreneurship for this segment of women. To the best of our understanding, no such study on STEM women has been carried out in developing nations in spite of the fact that this segment of women forms an important techno-economic resource which remains largely underutilised in developing economies.

The entrepreneurial journeys of digital start-up founders

We study 50 Australian entrepreneurs who have collectively founded more than 120 digital start-ups and enfold entrepreneurship and digital technologies literature in order to explain how the characteristics and affordances of digital technologies impact digital entrepreneurship. We explore the process of how founders enter venturing and create (and pause, abandon, pivot, repeat or persist with) their digital start-ups in a long-term entrepreneurial journey. We discover that in a digitised world, the long-term entrepreneurial journeys of experienced professionals as founders yield useful new insights about how digital technologies enable entrepreneurship. We propose a stage-based framework to describe this journey–locating their dimensions of entry, transition and long-term engagement with entrepreneurship, and the new venture creation process within such a journey. We present the implications of this conceptualisation of the digital technology-driven entrepreneurial journey: to government agencies looking to advance their innovation and entrepreneurship development agenda; to established companies keen to manage their digital talent better; to entrepreneurship educators who wish to explore experiential entrepreneurship training; and to accelerator managers who want to support entrepreneurs. Future research opportunities to deepen research into long term entrepreneurial journey are outlined.

Overcoming challenges faced by digital entrepreneurs: a design thinking approach

PurposeThe swift emergence of digital entrepreneurs since the pandemic began motivated us to study how these individuals have overcome challenges in such a dynamic, highly competitive landscape. Emergent themes were mapped using a design thinking approach for understanding these entrepreneurs’ actions during the early days of their start-up organizations.Design/methodology/approachWe selected a purposive sample of 24 digital business founders whose ventures were less than two years old from various domains. Manual thematic analysis was conducted to arrive at the themes, and the design thinking approach helped us to conceptualize the integrative model.FindingsWe arrived at six themes for understanding how digital entrepreneurs overcame the challenges they faced. We traced four of these themes to the existing literature, and two were newly emergent themes.Practical implicationsGiven the findings of this study, practitioners may benefit from leveraging a design thinking approach before initiating their entrepreneurial journeys. This study may additionally propel the interest of founders seeking to grow their businesses into larger organizations across geographical regions.Originality/valueThis in-depth qualitative study is among the earliest to explore ways to overcome the challenges digital entrepreneurs face during the early stages of their ventures. The theoretical contributions of this paper are in the application of design thinking and the creation of a conceptual model in the field of digital entrepreneurship.

Journey's end: a dynamic framework of entrepreneurial processes and capitals relating to early stage business exit

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to respond to the call by McMullen and Dimov (2013) for a clearer understanding of entrepreneurial journeys by investigating the entrepreneurial capitals and micro-processes of seven young early stage entrepreneurs who all exited their businesses within 3 years of start-up.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analysed empirical data from concurrent in-depth interviews which generated rich longitudinal case studies. Theory-building then led to a proposed “Longitudinal Dynamic Process Framework” of entrepreneurial goals, processes and capitals.FindingsThe framework builds on prior studies by integrating entrepreneurial processes and decisions into two feedback loops based on continuous review and learning. It thereby enhances understanding of the dynamics of new business development and unfolds the early stage ventures entrepreneurs' business exits.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are based on a small purposive sample. However, the main implication for research and theory is showing how the entrepreneurial capitals are dynamic and influenced by entrepreneurs' environment, and also separating entrepreneurs' personal issues from their business issues.Practical implicationsThe findings challenge some assumptions of policymakers and offer new insights for practitioners and early stage entrepreneurs. These include having more realistic case-studies of the entrepreneurial journey, recognizing the need to be agile and tenacious to cope with challenges, understanding how capitals can interact in complementary ways and that entrepreneurial processes can be used to leverage them at appropriate stages of the start-ups.Originality/valueThe concurrent longitudinal analysis and theory-building complements extant cross-sectional studies by identifying and analysing the detailed processes of actual business start-ups and exits. The proposed framework thereby adds coherence to earlier studies and helps to explain early stage entrepreneurial development, transformation of capitals and business exit.

Seeing the World from an Outsider’s Perspective: Opportunity Recognition by Immigrant Entrepreneurs

This study contributes to the opportunity recognition literature by an inductive content analysis of the entrepreneurial journeys of 52 immigrant entrepreneurs in the Boston area. The theoretical framework derived from our narrative data depicts the opportunity recognition processes of immigrant entrepreneurs and highlights the role of the meso context, embedded in the broader macro institutional context, as a source of external resources, motivators, and opportunity signals. The model also elaborates the role of idiosyncratic internal motivators for immigrant entrepreneurs during their opportunity recognition processes. The study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by showing that immigrant entrepreneurs, due to their extended exposures to different national contexts, have a comparative mindset, and this mindset plays a unique role in shaping their alertness to entrepreneurial opportunities in their new contexts.

Spirituality and entrepreneurship: integration of spiritual beliefs in an entrepreneurial journey

Purpose The role of spirituality in entrepreneurship is a new area of inquiry that has emerged from different scholarly fields. There is no specific way to study spirituality as it rather depends on the context and influence of religious beliefs. This paper aims to study the integration of spirituality in the entrepreneurial journeys of individual entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Thereby focusing on the factors that set reassurance for entrepreneurs to practice their spiritual beliefs in an emerging market context. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative research approach and data from entrepreneurs in different businesses, this study examines how entrepreneurs reach the point where they are willing to run their businesses based on their spiritual beliefs. The data analysis technique used to study the entrepreneurs is the Gioia method of analysis, which enables key themes to emerge. Findings This study finds that the process through which Pakistani entrepreneurs run their businesses based on spiritual beliefs within their mission and goals can be considered as discerning spiritual beliefs, affirmation of spiritual beliefs and materializing beliefs into action. Each of these spiritual beliefs has been accumulated through lifelong learning and experience in which trust in business relationships is highlighted. Social implications The insights of this study can be applied to different entrepreneurial ventures to create a framework of entrepreneurial businesses that incorporate spirituality within their mission and vision statements. It can then be used to design education and training activities for other spiritual entrepreneurs to enable further entrepreneurial development in different communities. Originality/value Spirituality can alter the entrepreneurial nature of a business. This means that entrepreneurs who possess high spiritual beliefs can incorporate their spirituality within specific business functions to enable a more positive outcome. This study stands as the first in Pakistan to consider the ways entrepreneurs incorporate their spiritual beliefs in their entrepreneurial journey.

Beyond making a profit: Using the UN SDGs in entrepreneurship programs to help nurture sustainable entrepreneurs

ABSTRACT We examine the entrepreneurial journeys of two students as they transit from entrepreneurship students to sustainable entrepreneurs. Among the lessons from the two cases, we highlight the importance of early exposure to sustainability and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the positive role of an entrepreneurial education program, and the critical role of a supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem that includes diverse and passionate students along with supportive faculty and mentors. These lessons can be applied to help other students and young entrepreneurs who are mission-driven to make a difference through sustainable entrepreneurship.