Identifying the Opportunities to Start Entrepreneurial Businesses: An Effort to Achieve Sustainable Rural Livelihood

Ahangari, Sahar; Babaei, Mohammad Hossein; Ahangari, Esmaeil

doi:10.22034/jer.2024.2027221.1106

Identifying the Opportunities to Start Entrepreneurial Businesses: An Effort to Achieve Sustainable Rural Livelihood

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Sahar Ahangari ¹

Mohammad Hossein Babaei ²

Esmaeil Ahangari ³

¹ Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), Tehran, Iran.

² Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Faculty of Agriculture, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.

³ Vice President of Human Resources Management, Amazon, Deeside Branch, Chester, England.

10.22034/jer.2024.2027221.1106

Abstract

Introduction: The sustainable livelihood approach has been the best way to address the issues of poverty and empowerment of the poor over the past years. It tries to solve the problem of poverty and vulnerability in rural areas in a comprehensive and human-centered way. Accordingly, the present research was conducted to identify opportunities to start entrepreneurial businesses to achieve rural people’s sustainable livelihood in Mahabad Township.
Methodology: To achieve the desired goal, a mixed-methods approach (qualitative-quantitative), the Delphi technique, and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) were used. The community studied was composed of specialists, experts, and experienced people in the field of rural entrepreneurship and agriculture, among whom 24 were selected as Delphi panel members using the purposive sampling method. A consensus was reached regarding the opportunities of starting entrepreneurial businesses after three rounds. The main research instrument was a questionnaire with open-ended questions in the first Delphi round, a questionnaire with closed and open-ended questions in the second and third rounds, and a pairwise comparison questionnaire in AHP. The data were analyzed using coding, content analysis, and descriptive statistics in SPSS, Excel, and Expert Choice software.
Findings: Based on the results, the most suitable opportunities to start entrepreneurial businesses in the rural areas of Mahabad Township were revealed to be the development of mechanized orchards (apples, grapes, walnuts, peaches, etc.), the development of small livestock farms (light and heavy), the production and sale of local dairy products, the construction of multi-purpose cold storage units to store agricultural products and livestock, and the development of processing and packaging industries of agricultural, horticultural, and livestock products. The less important opportunities were the construction of a mechanized slaughterhouse for heavy and light livestock, the development of mushroom production and solving the marketing problem, the development of planting medicinal plants, the construction of packaging and extracting workshops, and the development of processing industries to reduce the raw sale of agricultural and horticultural products. Also, the top priority among the entrepreneurial opportunities in the rural areas of Mahabad was found to be opportunities related to the agricultural sector based on the capacity to create employment, opportunities related to the handicraft sector and home businesses based on the ease of using the opportunity, and the opportunities related to the agricultural sector based on the suitability of the opportunity with the capabilities of the region.
Conclusion/ Implications: In general, the results indicate that there are many yet uncovered business opportunities in the study area. Grasping them will contribute to creating employment, boosting national and regional economic growth, and improving the sustainable livelihood of the villagers, showing the need for reprogramming.

Keywords

Sustainable Livelihood

Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Businesses

Empowerment

Subjects

Entrepreneurship

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