Attitudes of higher education students to business ownership: Lessons and experiences from the university of botswana students

Abstract

This paper discusses Botswana women students' attitudes to business ownership and barriers thereto. Data was obtained from a survey of seventy six University of Botswana women students and a focus group discussion with ten of these women. A five Likert attitude scale was used to measure and summarise the women students' attitudes to business ownership. A majority (78.9 per cent) strongly agreed to the statement "business owners deserve every penny they get", followed by "Botswana can be proud about its business owners" (75 per cent). The women students (67 per cent) also disagreed that "in Botswana society, it is generally believed that it is difficult for a woman to have a career outside home, let alone own a business". Overall, a majority of respondents (84 per cent) listed "shortage of money" as one of the problems in business start-up. Their socio-cultural status in accessing land and finance was identified as an impediment to their business start-up aspirations. In conclusion, building of awareness among women through education, training, and the media about business ownership as an economic option is suggested