Indian Entrepreneurs: An Empirical Investigation Of Entrepreneur?s Age And Firm Entry, Type Of Ownership And Risk Behavior | Shailendra Kumar Rai

The main purpose of this paper is to present an empirical analysis of the sequence relating the firm entry, type of ownership and risk behavior which in turn depends upon the age of the entrepreneurs. The data is drawn from 70 entrepreneurs engaged in Small Scale Industries (SSIs) in the industrial clusters of Varanasi district. Entrepreneurs are examined in terms of personal characteristics. Owner?s age is a major determinant of the form of organization and the financial capital structure of small businesses. Reliance upon debt capital to finance business startup is clearly associated with age of the entrepreneur. The empirical analysis also brought out the shifting patterns of entrepreneurial mix in the society. Contrary to the earlier belief that older the entrepreneur higher the entry into the business, the data supports the notion that entrepreneurship is evolving as a worthy career option for young India.