Graduate’ Future Intention to Venture Entrepreneurial Activities: the Foreseen Personal, Sectoral and Macro Barriers

As one of the developing countries, Tanzania is experiencing an increase in the number of young university graduates who can no longer be accommodated by job markets. This makes entrepreneurship a very important livelihood alternative for graduates. With this understanding, this study sought to establish the foreseen barriers that undermine graduates’ intention to become entrepreneurs. Specifically, the study identified personal, sectoral and macro factors understood by final-year university students in Tanzania as barriers of their entrepreneurial intents. A quantitative approach was employed to collect data from a sample of 761 final-year students at 10 Tanzania universities. The study used self-reported data collected through a questionnaire consisting of both open and closed-ended questions. The findings of the study suggest that majority of final-year students have strong intention to start entrepreneurial ventures. Also, the findings show that students’ likelihood to become entrepreneurs is undermined by different personal, sectoral and macro barriers. As such, without viable initiatives and strategies to make necessary changes, graduate unemployment is likely to remain a longstanding problem in Tanzania. This study recommends the creation of conducive business environment, and improvement of education systems to support entrepreneurship among the graduates.