Challenges and successful factors of SME Bumi Women Entrepreneurs in Melaka / Norbaiti Tukiman and Rafidah Abd. Karim

The purpose of this research is to identify problems, internal and external challenges and also factors that influence the success of Small Medium Enterprise (SME) Bumi Women Entrepreneurs in Melaka. Besides, the research is also to identify and measure the relationship between business performance and successful factors of women entrepreneurs. Questionnaires and interviews were used as the research instruments in collecting the data and distributed to 110 SME Bumi Women Entrepreneurs in three districts in Melaka which are Alor Gajah, Melaka Tengah and Jasin. SME sector has been divided into five sectors which are manufacturing, servicing, retailing, general business and agriculture or livestock. The methodology used in this research is a combination of quantitative and qualitative method. The data was analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 16.0 presented in the form of frequency tables, charts and mean scores. To identify the relationship between business performance and successful factors, the test of Pearson correlation has been used. The findings of this research showed that the main problems faced by SME Bumi Women Entrepreneurs were the competitiveness, lack of capital sources and the problem of using IT in business. The main internal challenge faced by women entrepreneurs is high level of confidence while the main external challenge faced by women entrepreneurs is close relatives’ barrier. The main factor that influences successful women entrepreneurs is high self-interest. The research also showed that the relationship between business performance and successful factors was weak and therefore business performance was not influenced or fully dependent on the successful factors defined.