Relationship between Entrepreneurship and Poverty Alleviation: Empirical Study on Role of Microfinance Institutions Working in South Punjab

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to examine the role of entrepreneurship on poverty alleviation in the Southern Punjab. There are two aspects of entrepreneurship are considered qualitative growth for entrepreneurs and quantitative growth for entrepreneurs. This study is based on primary data analysis and the targeted population is customers of microfinance who are involved in microcredit activities and a total of 180 respondents are included for data analysis. After monitoring and screening, reliability analysis and descriptive statistics was used as a measure for data quality. Correlation matrix explained the relationship between dependent and independent factors, and empirical findings indicated that there is significant and negative relationship is existing among the entrepreneurship and poverty. Finally, regression analysis was tested in which there are three hypotheses were tested. Empirical evidences proposed that qualitative growth for entrepreneurs, quantitative growth for entrepreneurs, and overall entrepreneurship have shown significant and negative relationship with poverty. This study has policy implications for bankers and policy makers especially at government, as there is a need to further consider the microfinancing concepts which can play significant role in reduction of poverty in less developed areas of Pakistan.