Socio–Demographic Characteristics of Sole Proprietors in Developing Countries: The Case of Ghana

Abstract

Governments in both developed and developing countries are faced with the teething problem ‘unemployment’ which is seen as a thorn in the fresh of governments. This study examines some socio–demographic characteristics of sole proprietors in developing countries with Ghana as a case in point. The study was descriptive and questionnaire, observations and interviews were the instruments used for the study. The population for the study included all entrepreneurs who have established their own businesses and manage such businesses themselves and at the same time they are the owners of those businesses they have set up. Nwana’s (2005) method of selecting a sample size and in some cases a simple Arithmetic Proportion Method were adopted to select a sample size for the study. In all, two thousand, one hundred and forty-two respondents constituted the sample size for the study. Sole proprietors selected for the study were entrepreneurs who have permanent places where they transact businesses so in this context the ‘Waakye Seller’ who sells her product on a table top at a particular place is recognised as part of the study. In the same way, the one who carries wax print (textile) on his/her head and has no permanent place to transact his/her business is not captured in the study because such a person cannot be monitored properly as he/she is not stable at a particular place. The study found out among others that, there are approximately as many men as women sole proprietors in Ghana; many young people between the ages of 20 – 39 years constituted the majority of people involved in sole–proprietorship businesses in Ghana and none of the sole proprietors during the time of the study had been in business for forty years.