Entrepreneurial Finance: Exploring the Drivers and Challenges Faced by Young Pakistani Entrepreneurs

Abstract

Within the last decade, the popularity of entrepreneurship rose exponentially all over the world; however, research in this field within the context of developing countries is still lacking. Generally speaking, accessibility and availability of financial support is one of the most significant factors affecting an entrepreneur’s venture when it is in its initial stages. This is especially true in the case of developing countries such as Pakistan. For this reason, this study explored the drivers and challenges faced by Pakistani entrepreneurs regarding the access to and availability of financial support. Data was collected through 65 semi-structured interviews of budding Pakistani entrepreneurs until the saturation point was reached. Afterwards, the interviews were transcribed and imported to NVivo 12 plus, which was used to conduct a thematic analysis of the interviews. The major findings of the research revealed that entrepreneurs face many challenges with regards to the access and availability of financial support in Pakistan. Additionally, according to the respondents, the entrepreneurial journey in Pakistan is laden with challenges and has minimum drivers (opportunities available to the entrepreneurs). The respondents also expressed a lack of awareness and downright distrust of the government-sponsored financial support schemes.