Entrepreneurship: Does it elevate independence in a developing economy?

Abstract

Policy makers regard training more entrepreneurs as a source of transforming an economy. This view does bury the notion of 'white coloured 'jobs being perceived as the most lucrative and only way to social, economic and financial freedom. As a developing economy, Ghana is no exception to the view of using entrepreneurship to transform the economy. This is evident in enterprise programmes churned out by successive governments to ease the burden on public institutions employment and also to reduce graduate unemployment in the country. The question still remains, does entrepreneurial motivational activities translate into improving the social and economic well-being (freedom) of the people? On this score, this paper sought to elicit entrepreneurial motivational factors as a yardstick for continuous economic freedom in a developing economy. To do this, a semi-structured questionnaire was formulated and administered to owners of start-ups during an entrepreneurship conference held in the capital of Ghana, Accra. The respondents had varied enterprises which gave a good representation of entrepreneurs in the country. The study used descriptive statistics in analysing the data. The results depicted various factors of entrepreneurial motivation with the desire to be a leader having the highest mean score. Thus, the assertion that people are highly motivated to be entrepreneurs by the need for independence was not entirely true. The study also found 'doing something creative or innovate' was not the strongest motivating factor, although the concept of entrepreneurship is about creativity and innovation. It is recommended that policy makers should not only focus on pushing it citizens towards being entrepreneurs but they should also consider the motives of these entrepreneurs. Emphasis should be placed on individuals who are personally motivated and also focus on the existing enterprises which have high growth potentials of creating jobs and causing economic freedom. This could influence tailored programmes and planned support that are aimed at entrepreneurship education in tertiary institutions and small businesses or start-ups. This study helped to give insights into the zeal and preparedness exhibited by entrepreneurs to enhance their fortunes within the developing economies. © Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, ECIE 2019. All rights reserved.