Examining the business establishment processes of women entrepreneurs: the example of Amasya province

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of women who received entrepreneurship certificates by participating in the Applied Entrepreneurship Training organized in Amasya between 2014 and 2018, during their business establishment process. Women's presence in the workforce is a fundamental element of economic growth and sustainable development. In Turkey, women's participation in the labor force and employment lags significantly behind that of men. In recent years, entrepreneurship has emerged as a tool for women to enhance their presence in working life, actively participate in social life, and achieve economic independence. In Turkey, KOSGEB encourages participation in the entrepreneurship ecosystem by providing training, grants, and expert support to individuals who want to establish their own businesses. Specifically, through Applied Entrepreneurship Training, the aim is to increase the capabilities of women in their business establishment processes and achieve success. In this context, this research utilizes a phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research designs, to reveal the experiences of women entrepreneurs who participated in the Applied Entrepreneurship Training. The study group of this research consists of 18 women entrepreneurs selected using a purposive sampling method. In this study, in-depth interviews were chosen as the data collection method. Semi-structured interview forms were used for this purpose. When creating the interview form, data collection tools used in previous studies were first examined in a literature review. Subsequently, the professional experience of the researcher conducting this study and the opinions of expert academics in the field were considered. The data collected from the study group through the interview form were subjected to descriptive analysis, and codes, categories, and themes were created. A hierarchy was established by examining the relationships between the codes, categories, and themes created, and as a result of data analysis, six themes were determined in this research: "entrepreneurship training as a means to access grant support," "a new career path: becoming an entrepreneur," "encountered obstacles, problems, and solutions," "being a female entrepreneur in working life," "the impact of starting a business on family and friendship relations," and "women's perception of entrepreneurship." The interviews revealed that the women entrepreneurs in this study group belong to the traditional female entrepreneur class. It was concluded that entrepreneurship training did not contribute to the participants in terms of establishing and maintaining their businesses beyond benefiting from grants. Furthermore, the encouragement of women who are in the process of establishing businesses to participate in training by the relevant institutions was referred to as "demonstration entrepreneurship." It was observed that women entrepreneurs made their sector choices based on gender roles, traditional expectations, and personal experiences, particularly providing services in retail trade and the production of bakery and patisserie products. The most significant barriers faced by women entrepreneurs compared to male entrepreneurs include fear of failure, domestic responsibilities, and social pressure. The study found that while the women who participated in the research contributed financially to their families after becoming entrepreneurs, they faced difficulties in family relationships due to long working hours and detachment from social life. Keywords: entrepreneurship, women entrepreneurship, KOSGEB, applied entrepreneurship training, Amasya