What Influences Women Entrepreneurial Performance in Meghalaya?

Abstract

This study is conducted among the Khasis, an indigenous tribe, which is one of the largest surviving matrilineal culture(s) in the world found in Meghalaya which is in the north- eastern part of India. The aim of this paper is to explore the experiences of Khasi women entrepreneurs by looking into their personal characteristics, the characteristics of their enterprises and the factors that influence them both at the preestablishment and post- establishment stages of their enterprises. However, the focus in this paper is on the impact of human capital, financial capital and social capital on the entrepreneurial performance in both service and manufacturing units in the MSME sector. Questionnaires containing both open-ended and closeended questions were administered to and face-to-face in- depth interviews were conducted with 81 first generation women entrepreneurs in the manufacturing and service sectors. Established enterprises that have been running for at least five years were randomly selected. Demographic variables, financial variables were captured to measure human capital and financial capital. The type, size and composition of network of the entrepreneurs were also captured to measure social capital at the pre and post establishment stages of the enterprise. After running linear regression on the model, we found that human capital (experience) have positive and significant impact on the performance of the firm measured by the growth rate. However in case of financial social capital measured by proportion of non- family members, there was no significant impact on firm performance. Although this study was undertaken using a relatively small sample in only three districts of Meghalaya however, it will help to sensitise and inform business support agents, banks, advisors both public sector and private, academicians, policy makers and professionals on the unique characteristics of women entrepreneurs. The paper’s originality lies in its review of women entrepreneurship in Meghalaya, with a unique matrilineal cultural setup, adding more evidence of the characteristics of women entrepreneurs in a different and unique setting.