Entrepreneurial Leadership And Growth Of Small Medium Enterprises: Lessons From Transformational Entrepreneurs In Ghana

Abstract

The development of entrepreneurship and SMEs have greatly contributed to the economic development in many countries all over the world. This is as a result of entrepreneurial activities which provide employment, revenue for both government and citizenry, as well as serve as an avenue for innovation. The SME sector is the most dominant form of business in Ghana. In spite of the economic importance of entrepreneurship and SMEs in Ghana, their growth is hindered by several factors. These growth-hindering factors will not be challenging if entrepreneurs exhibit entrepreneurial leadership qualities, which include; innovativeness, proactiveness, risk-taking, visionary, and the ability to motivate employees. In view of that, this study seeks to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and SME growth in Ghana. Data is collected from a sample of transformational entrepreneurs through face-face in-depth interviews and analysed thematically. The findings of the study suggests that Ghanaian transformational entrepreneurs are entrepreneurial leaders because they exhibit traits such as innovativeness, proactiveness, risk-taking propensity, visionary and ability to motivate employees; and this turn leads to tremendous growth in SMEs. Also, entrepreneurial leaders invest in their human capital inputs which facilitate the firm growth in terms of the number of employees, subsidiaries, and assets as well as profitability. The study recommends that entrepreneurs of small businesses need to exhibit entrepreneurial leadership traits as well as invest in their human capital as it will help fast-track the growth process of SMEs. Future researchers can investigate quantitatively in order to provide a more accurate generalisation of the findings.