Challenges and Motivations for Youth Entrepreneurship Start-Ups:Empirical study from Egypt

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is a key catalyst of any economic growth, and Egyptian entrepreneurs tried to prevail. Their number grew rapidly during the past decade. But the statistics still alarming as many of them fail and seize to continue. This study tries to identify key constraints that deter young people from starting and running their own businesses and tries also to identify incentives and stimuli that might encourage young people to engage in entrepreneurial projects. For a quantitative research, 30 complete questionnaires were analyzed. The sample represented successful start-ups that worked within an incubator at a university in Greater Cairo during the last 2 years and managed to become independent afterwards. The results of the study suggest that lack of financial resources is the most important challenges in starting a new venture, combined with difficulty in dealing with government officers. In light of the above-mentioned result, a set of recommendations were drafted to guide universities' efforts to offer a more efficient support to young entrepreneurs.