Exploring The Impact of Women Entrepreneurship on Economic Development - A Case of Mashonaland West Province

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the impact of women entrepreneurship on economic development. A case of Mashonaland West Province. The specific objectives were to analyse intrinsic and extrinsic factors which hinder effective growth of women entrepreneurs and the outcome was to examine the contribution by women entrepreneurs in the economy. Women entrepreneurship model and economic and entrepreneurship theories were used. Positivism philosophy was used. A population of 1050 and a survey of 105 respondents was used to carry out the study. The researcher distributed questionnaires to the targeted women entrepreneurs. SPSS was used to capture and analyse data.0.763 was the Cronbach’s alpha result which was used to measure reliability of the construct. Descriptive statistics, means, frequencies and t-tests were used to test the results. The study established that women entrepreneurs contribute to economic development. The study also found out that woman entrepreneurship contribution to economic growth is affected by both internal and environmental aspects. However, from the observations the social environment affects greatly in a negative way. Socio economic factors have a positive influence on growth intentions for women entrepreneurs. The test that intrinsic and extrinsic challenges influence positively the performance of women owned ventures was rejected and concluded that intrinsic and extrinsic challenges women entrepreneurs face have a negative impact in their venture performance. Women entrepreneurs have a negative contribution to economic growth we rejected the null hypothesis and partially concluded that women make contributions to economic development. The study recommended that women to be engaged in activities that economically benefit the nation as well as for them to adopt change for their businesses to be successful. It also encouraged that women should engage in sustainable businesses. The researcher recommends that the research be done in many cities and provinces to give a clear picture of the contributions made by women entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe.