Authors: William Phiri, Mr.Barrack Chama
Abstract: Entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in stimulating economic expansion, especially in develop-ing nations like Zambia. Given the circumstances, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that receive assistance from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) constitute a substan-tial portion of the entrepreneurial environment. It is imperative to comprehend the entrepre-neurial capabilities of these businesses funded by the CDF in order to clarify their contribu-tion to the advancement of the local economy and to guide specific interventions that aim to improve their long-term viability and prosperity. The entrepreneurial capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) supported by the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) in Petauke, Zambia is the subject of this study. The research was conducted with the follow-ing objectives in mind: to determine the impact of risk-taking, networking, innovation, and leadership competencies of entrepreneurs on the success of their enterprises. The literature re-view provided an explanation for the study's examination of previous activities. The literature review assessed the correlation between the different entrepreneurial capacities and their im-pact on the global success of entrepreneurial enterprises. By utilising a descriptive research design, information was gathered from 10,010 entrepreneurial businesses funded by the CDF, which constituted the target population. The researchers employed a stratified random sam-pling method in order to determine the sample size of 601 participants. The data was gathered via structured questionnaires and subsequently assessed utilising descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. For statistical reference, the data were analysed using descriptive statis-tics (frequency and percentage), tables and graphical representations, and a multiple linear re-gression model in which survival was regressed against the four entrepreneurial capacity vari-ables. Entrepreneurial capacities (innovation capacity, leadership capacity, networking capaci-ty, and risk-taking capacity) possessed by owner or managers of CDF funded businesses in Petauke, Zambia have a positive and statistically significant impact on the success of entre-preneurial business except for Leadership capacity was statistically not significant. Thus, en-trepreneurial capacities indicated increasing their chances of success, according to the find-ings. Hence, the research suggests that CDF funded businesses or entrepreneurial businesses, via their management, should adopt calculated risk-taking strategies in their operations, im-prove leadership capacity, a critical factor in the survival and performance of the organisation, and ensure that they embrace networking competency to gain a competitive edge and expand their clientele
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19606215
