Examining successful female entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka: an exploratory study

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to sightsee the successful female entrepreneurs and the factors that contribute to their success while facing challenges in conducting their businesses, based on a case study in the Panadura division. This paper adopts the purposive sampling cum snowball sampling method which leads to a qualitative-based case study. Data is collected from a total of 10 women entrepreneurs who are provided financial facilities from a microfinance company in the Panadura division and all of whom resided and operated their business in Panadura. The sample is created including start-ups under different sectors. An information-rich case study of entrepreneurial experiences from the selected females is examined using in-depth interviews to investigate the success of their businesses. Thematic analysis is used in analyzing the collected data. As findings, Female Entrepreneurs have to face several types of challenges such as huge competition, lack of creativity, lack of financial support, lack of capital to start, loss of dedication, negative impacts, imbalance of the domestic life with the work-life, etc. Several factors are identified that contribute to the success of female entrepreneurship childhood experiences, desire & the impact of family, psychological factors, learning in terms of formal and informal, and finally the support gained from internal and external parties. Considering attitudes, all females have self-confidence when doing and even before starting the business. They consider the self-confidence as the key to the success.