Musdiana Mohamad Salleh
Faculty of Business Management,
Universiti Teknologi MARA ( UiTM)
Kedah Branch.
P.O Box 187 08400, Merbok Kedah, Malaysia e-mail: diana001@kedah.uitm.edu.my
Noor Zahirah Mohd Sidek
Faculty of Business Management,
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)
P.O Box 187, 08400, Merbok, Kedah, Malaysia e-mail: zahira@kedah.uitm.edu.my
RURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF RURAL MICRO ENTERPRISE (RME) IN MALAYSIA
Abstract
Entrepreneurship has been a topical issue in business administration literature and mostly the wave on interest is on the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth literature. This paper aims to highlight in the perspective of micro enterprise. It explores the experience of rural micro enterprise (RME) entrepreneurs in Malaysia with reference to a preliminary survey conducted in Centre of Perak. In the study, 30 rural micro enterprises entrepreneurs were interviewed. The study finds that RMEs in the area play supporting role in the household economy. Common characteristics of RMEs are small in size and local market, lack of entrepreneurship culture in the area, lack of entrepreneurial attitudes and lack of availability to access information, financial, business service and infrastructure. However, in the bright side these RMEs are flexible and informal since entrepreneur created products that are in demand in the market. This study suggests that government should give serious attention to develop rural entrepreneurship by promoting entrepreneurship to young generation, encourage active involvement of higher education institutions in entrepreneurship development in rural areas and encourage networking by combinations of private service providers and public sector support.
Keywords: Rural Micro Enterprise (RME), Entrepreneurship, Sustaining Rural Micro Entrepreneur, Malaysia,
Introduction
Entrepreneurship is a
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