Abstract:
The research sought to determine how family background and motivation
influence entrepreneurship development in Zimbabwe. Purposive sampling was
used to select 200 family business entrepreneurs. The study confirms that family
social class is an important determinant of entrepreneurial decision while having
a village childhood background is not a barrier to entrepreneurship entry.
Company founders tended to be well-educated. On the other hand, entrepreneurs
were found to be motivated by the need for self -realization and economic security,
the need for greater business achievement, the need for institutional power, and
need for social capital factor. However, we find no tendency for the motivators
driving family business formation to change when economic conditions changes.
We recommend for an education policy that emphasise more on developing
entrepreneurship talent and that government make an attempt to ensure an
enabling environment for entrepreneurship development by maintaining the
socioeconomic (middle) class. There is also need for a well-crafted family
entrepreneurship development program to support family business succession
planning for sustainable family entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe
