Abstract:
This empirical study is aimed at describing the success determinants of the rural Community Income Generating Project in the Kavango Region funded by the Kavango Regional Council and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare between 2005 and 2010.
This descriptive non-experimental study collected and analyzed quantitative primary
data both textual and numerical using a structured survey design.
The annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study authored by Xavier et al. (2012), which provides a broad array of data on societal attitudes, participation levels of individuals at different stages of the entrepreneurship process and the characteristics of entrepreneurs and their businesses enabled entrepreneurial
comparisons within and across national and geographic regions with entrepreneurial
determinants and factors at rural level particularly with regards to community income
generating projects in Kavango region.
There is empirical evidence that most of the beneficiaries funded through this
programme are falling short in terms of basic but critical entrepreneurial
competencies such as business attitudes, academic competencies, diversification of
products and/or services, low commitment levels and entrepreneurial skills. The study further reveals that there are shortfalls in terms of the current trainings being provided and the inadequate support from the funding institutions in terms of continued coaching and mentoring.
Key recommendations suggest introducing coaching and mentoring programmes and
the introduction of minimum entrepreneurial requirements in the funding of community income generating projects.
