Abstract:
The establishment of agro enterprises is influenced by various factors identified in the theories of enterprise establishment which most entrepreneurs do not pay particular attention to when establishing and managing their enterprises. The aim of this study is to examine how enterprise establishment factors contribute to the growth of the pineapple industry. The enterprise establishment or founding factors identified and examined in this study are the basic tasks identified by the entrepreneur, funds availability for enterprise establishment, business information and entrepreneur‟s expertise. A mixed model research design was used in this study with the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. Data was collected from 172 entrepreneurs in the pineapple industry from eight (8) farmer based organizations in the Nsawam-Adoagyiri District of Ghana using a simple random sampling technique and analyzed with SPSS software. Results show that funds availability for enterprise establishment and access to business information by the entrepreneur contributes significantly to employment growth of the pineapple industry, and technological growth. Sources of business information contribute to sales growth, and technological growth of the pineapple industry. Entrepreneur‟s educational background and previous work experience were found to contribute significantly to entrepreneur‟s expertise in the establishment and management of the pineapple industry. It was however identified that the entrepreneur‟s expertise from educational background does not affect the growth of pineapple enterprises. Meanwhile, entrepreneur‟s expertise gained from previous work experience was found to contribute to employment and technological growth of the pineapple industry due to the human resource management, and technical skills acquired by entrepreneurs in their previous works. It can therefore be concluded that enterprise establishment factors do not only influence entrepreneurial or enterprise establishment process but also contribute variedly to the growth of pineapple industry. The study recommends that education on agro enterprises in educational institutions, and the provision of adequate knowledge on funds availability to would be entrepreneurs should be carried out to enhance their capability in enterprise establishment and growth.
