Entrepreneurial inclinations of college students in Tanzania: a case of selected Dar es Salaam Colleges

This study sought to explore college students’ interest in self-employment, motives for starting business, aspiration for business growth and possible influences on the entrepreneurial intentions and aspirations. Following a review of the relevant literature, a conceptual model was developed and tested using a sample survey of 214 respondents from four colleges: Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology, College of Business Education, Dar es Salaam Teachers College and Institute of Social Work, all based in Dar es Salaam region. Factor Analysis, T-test, spearman rank order correlations and Analysis of Variance were used to analyze the data. The findings suggest that most students have strong interest in owning business after graduation. A majority are motivated to start business because of the need to control their lives, to practice innovative ideas, and to make more money than they would otherwise make from employment. Interestingly, students who believe they have a lower chance of securing employment after graduation are less interested in starting their own business compared to those who believe they have higher probability of getting employed. Majority of students aspire to own relatively small businesses. However, as the level of education increase among respondents, the higher the growth motivation. The main factors influencing interest in self-employment are level of education where Advance diploma students have more interest than others and gender wise men have interest compare to women. On other hand, factors such as education programmes (specializations) such as business doesn’t influence interest in owning business, also family background does not influence interest in self-employment. The results suggest a large potential for creating entrepreneurs out of college graduates. However efforts need to be made to develop interest in self-employment especially among female students and those whose prospects for formal employment are low.