Abstract:
The importance of entrepreneurship in stimulating economic development has been
highlighted. However, in developing countries, the growth of women entrepreneurs has been
constrained by barriers related to structure and culture, which ultimately restrict their ability to
grow their businesses. Thus, the objective of this research project is to determine how
entrepreneurial training influences the performance of women entrepreneurs who are food
vendors in Ilala Municipality, Tanzania. To achieve this objective, the Research will be guided
by the Resource-Based View of the Firm (RBV), Human Capital Theory and Theory of Planned
Behaviour. The study will consider entrepreneurial training as developing essential competence
required by women entrepreneurs. These competencies include: business, technical, personal,
entrepreneurial, social, and interpersonal skills, leads to improved business performance. This
study utilized a cross-sectional design and quantitative methodology to sample 320 women food
vendors (at the ferry, Buguruni, and Kisutu markets). Structured questionnaires were used to
collect survey data, which was then analysed by Partial Least Squares Structural Equation
Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results show that training for entrepreneurs positively influences
business performance significantly (β = 0.759, p < 0.001), explaining 57.7% of variance. As
performance demonstrated, there were positive increases in profitability, customer loyalty, speed
of service and business growth. The findings of the study supports that entrepreneur training
provides a significant pathway for women to succeed in business, with immediate and ongoing positive impacts. The study highlights the importance of developing training that is context
specific and includes innovation, motivation and resilience in order to empower women food
vendors to address structural barriers. Therefore, recommendations are made to policymakers
and training providers to develop interventions that can increase women's entrepreneurial
capacity, and drive local economic development.
