Motives, Success Factors, and Barriers Among Canadian Female Entrepreneurs: The Case of Greater Sudbury

Fifty‐four female entrepreneurs in Greater Sudbury, Canada, were surveyed in 2009 to determine the motives for self‐employment, success factors, and problems they perceived. Results revealed that primary reasons for owning a business were personal satisfaction and growth, to have fun and to proving they could do it. These results show that Canadian female small business owners were driven by intrinsic factors as opposed to monetary motives. In terms of business success variables, the most important to them were the entrepreneurs’ reputation for honesty and good customer service. Serious problems faced by Canadian female entrepreneurs were the weak economy, high business taxes and the unavailability of skilled labour. Results on success factors and perceived problems were consistent with those from previous studies using similar instruments both in Canada and other countries, including Turkey; however, while intrinsic rewards characterised Canadian respondents’ motives, Turkish entrepreneurs were primarily driven by economic rewards.