Tropentag 2022, September 14 - 16, Prague, Germany "Can agroecological farming feed the world? Farmers' and academia's views."

Food entrepreneurship: what matters for success: the case of young entrepreneurs in Ghana

¹Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Fac. of Tropical AgriSciences - Dept. of Economics and Development, Czech Republic
²Leibniz Centre for Agric. Landscape Res. (ZALF), Inst. of Socioeconomics, Germany

Abstract

Youth unemployment has become a worrying issue and a cancer in sub-Saharan Africa and has often attracted the attention of policymakers and governments in the sub-region. For most young people, entrepreneurship, particularly Agri-entrepreneurship, provides a way out of unemployment and poverty. Based on this, the focus of the study was on young people in Ghana who work in agri-food processing micro and small businesses. The study aims to identify factors that influence the success (sales growth and employee growth) of agri-food processing. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 244 young agri-food processing business owners selected using multi-stage sampling in Ghana's Northern, Ashanti and Greater Accra regions from May to June 2021. Descriptive analysis and multiple linear regression were used to determine success factors influencing Ghana's agri-food processing businesses. The descriptive analyses show that female entrepreneurs (82%) dominate the food-based micro and small businesses. Further, the business type is mainly sole proprietorship (81%), with insignificant numbers being partnerships (6%) and limited liability companies (4%). The regression results show that access to entrepreneurship training positively affects business success in sales growth and employee growth (p < 0.1). Similarly, entrepreneurship experience in a similar business positively affects business success in terms of sales growth (p < 0.1), whereas business registration and accessing credit from financial institutions negatively affect business success (p < 0.1). Based on our findings, emphasis should be placed on entrepreneurship training, provision of industrial attachment for young people who wants to venture into a particular area of food processing and lastly, an essential consequence of the findings is the need for improved support for access to financial capital at a moderate rate for business growth.

Keywords: Entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, food enterprises, human capital, youth

Contact Address: Bernard Kwamena Cobbina Essel, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Fac. of Tropical AgriSciences - Dept. of Economics and Development, Kamýcká 129, 16500 Prague-Suchdol, Czech Republic, e-mail: esselbftz.czu.cz