Influence of personal traits onagri business performance: a case study of Tshakhumma fruits market women in South Africa

Abstract

While women in the Tshakhumma area in South Africa have recognized fruits and vegetable form of entrepreneurship as a vital tool for leveraging household economic problems, unemployment, poverty, dependency and economic growth, very few involved are succeeding in this stride. A close look reveals the homogenous nature of products, poor external support to expand and diversify products as well as lack of endogenous attributes mostly associated with client management. This study is concerned with personal traits inherent in some women who succeed more than others given equal external supports. An explanatory research design informed the enquiry. Cluster sampling technique and simple random sampling technique was used to identify participants for data collection, which was done using a semi-structured questionnaire through a participatory approach. Approximately 70% (197 out of 280) of the total market women participated in the study. The analysis is twofold. Firstly, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 25 through cross-tabulation was used to measure the performances of the market women. In this, those with high performances in terms of turnover were identified. Secondly, Atlas-ti version 8 through a thematic approach was used to profile the attributes distilled from the successful women. The resultindicates 25% are successful, 60% are unsuccessful, while 15% are neither successful nor unsuccessful. Common attributes found include personal experience, understanding of market environment, healthy client relationship, trustworthiness, punctuality, transparency, and commitment. We recommend an entrepreneurship framework built on the findings for capacity building in the area.

Keyword: agriculture, businesswomen, clients, entrepreneurship, success, sustainable livelihood