TITLE:

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE EYES OF THE YOUTH:

CHALLENGES FACED BY TEENAGERS

IN PUTTING UP AN ONLINE

BUSINESS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Entrepreneurs are the backbone of our economy. The Philippines is an

entrepreneurial country. In the Philippines, entrepreneurship is viewed as
important to empowering the poor, enhancing production, and as an impetus
to innovation. The 1987 Philippine Constitution recognizes entrepreneurship as
an engine of economic growth.
The Republic Act No. 10679, which is known as the “Youth
Entrepreneurship Act”, is an act promoting entrepreneurship and financial
education among Filipino youth. Promoting youth entrepreneurship will not
only help in reducing unemployment but more importantly make young people
understand that they have alternatives to create their own destiny by starting
their own companies and they need not keep waiting to get a job. Even if they
do not start a business, youth involved in entrepreneurship programs gain
skills and become more innovative and effective employees and managers.
Nowadays, people tend to be really engaged with the internet, especially
teenagers. Internet is almost likely to be a part of a Filipino household, that
doing business in it will come through the minds of an individual. The
Philippines was the first country to introduce mobile money services. With the
use of internet, people can do everything efficiently. Transactions using the
internet is easy nowadays, like online businesses.
 These days, online business becomes a new trend since there are many
people who engaged themselves into it. Anyone can engage themselves in this
kind of business because it is one of the most convenient business nowadays
and it is most likely to be an easy and efficient one. People tend to support this
kind of online shops or online marketplaces because it is convenient for them.
The internet gives a wealth of opportunities to start a business, often with little
to no cost. With this reason, even students can engage themselves in an online
business.
Starting your own business while still being young can be daunting. The
population of youth entrepreneurs who have successfully established an online
business is relatively low. Because most of them have a little to no background
in starting their own business, they fail. The challenges encountered by youth
entrepreneurs in starting up an online business are adverse and overcoming
these would take some time. A viable solution to overcome these challenges is
by promoting entrepreneurship and giving the Filipino youth the proper
knowledge and tools in starting their own business.
As senior high school students, the researchers have observed that
teenagers fail to start an online business because they lack an in-depth
knowledge on the challenges the young entrepreneurs face in establishing an
online business.
Hence, teenagers face many challenges while starting their own online
business. Some of these include lack of experience, financial issues,
government-related problems, etc. The researchers were enticed to study the
challenges faced by teenagers in putting up an online business. This study is
in need to conduct because we want to know the reasons why teenagers fail in
establishing an online business, their experiences in running an online
business and their coping mechanisms to overcome the challenges they have
encountered as a contribution to the existing limited studies about the
challenges faced by teenagers in putting up an online business.

Review of Related Literature

Dana’s paper (1987) also suggests that entrepreneurial learning style
preferences are consistent with active participation and that increased
opportunities to participate in the classroom would increase student awareness
and enhances the ability to learn from experience. Dana further argues that
the emphasis should be on improving entrepreneurial skill development and on
the importance of learning the skill to learn as an ongoing process rather than
on traditional management course content.
According to Hisrich and Peters (1989), entrepreneurship is the process
of creating something of value by devoting the necessary skills, time and effort,
and assuming the accompanying financial and sometimes physical and social
risks, to reap the resulting monetary rewards and personal satisfaction. Today,
entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly important. Individual, social and
environmental factors all have a direct bearing on the entrepreneurial process,
its motivation, innovation, continuity and expansion.
Hood and Young (1993) develop a theoretical framework consisting of
four primary areas where successful entrepreneurs must be developed. The
areas are content, skills and behavior, mentality, and personality.
Harrison and Leitch (1994) say the need to utilize recent developments
in the field of leadership research when studying entrepreneurship. The
authors suggest that leadership and organizational transformation and
continuous learning are themes that reflect the new paradigm associated with
entrepreneurship education.
According to Vishwananath (2001), accessing credit, particularly for
starting an enterprise, is one of the major constraints face by entrepreneurs.
Lack of access to capital has been a primary obstacle for women entrepreneurs.
Research suggests that the primary source of finding for entrepreneurs has
been through family loans, personal savings, credit cards, and home equity
loans.
Mambula, C. (2002) analyzed major constraints faced by entrepreneurs.
A sample of 32 business entrepreneurs was taken. Analysis of data revealed
that majority of entrepreneurs face the problem of finance and infrastructure
while managing their businesses. The author recommended that small
business entrepreneurs should collaborate with each other to sort out the
various problems faced by them. There is a need to form alliance of
Government, Research Institutions, and Financial Institutions to create
appropriate training for prospective small business. All these measures will go
a long way to strengthen the growth of small-scale sector.
Tagoe (2005) has examined the financial challenges faced by urban
entrepreneurs under financial sector liberalization. Main challenges faced by
urban entrepreneurs are access to affordable credit over a reasonable period.
To manage these challenges, entrepreneurs should manage record keeping in
an effective manner. Moreover, availability of collateral improves the access to
formal credit. But better availability of investment avenues further reduces the
accessibility of credit to the entrepreneurs.
 Dileep Kumar (2006) has elaborated some of the issues faced by
entrepreneurs. Such as a shortage of finances, limited mobility, lack of
education, labor problems, and a lack of achievement motivation.
The study of Hanna Mizgajska (2007) confirmed that education and
professional experience of entrepreneurs were decisive in prioritizing the
internal and external factors which impacted the decision of setting up a
company. The study showed that a significant factor influencing company
growth and company performance was training courses.
According to the study of Pooja Nayyar, Avinash Sharma, Jatinder
Kishtwaria, Aruna Rana, and Neena Vyasti (2007) suggested that poor location
of unit, tough competition from larger and established units, lack of transport
facility, lack of rest and sleep, and unavailability of raw materials were the
significant problems faced by entrepreneurs. The factors causable to these
problems were difficulty in affording own vehicle, not being popular, heavy
schedule of work, and long working hours.
In the words of Rizvi and Gupta (2009), government-sponsored
development activities and schemes have benefited only by a small section of
entrepreneurs, namely the urban middle-class. This may be primarily due to
their level of education, access of information, and family support.
Cohoon, Wadhwa & Mitchell (2010) presented a detailed exploration of
men and women entrepreneurs' motivations, background, and experiences.
The study is based on the data collected from successful women entrepreneurs.
Out of them, 59% had founded two or more companies. The study identifies top
five financial and psychological factors motivating women to become
entrepreneurs. These are desire to build the wealth, the wish to capitalize own
business ideas they had, the appeal of startup culture, a long-standing desire
to own their own company, and working with someone else did not appeal
them. The challenges are more related with entrepreneurship rather than
gender. However, the study concluded with the requirement of further
investigation like why women are so much concerned about protecting
intellectual capital than their counterpart. Mentoring is very important to
women, which provides encouragement and financial support of business
partners, experiences, and well-developed professional network.
S. Varghese Antony & Dr. M. Edwin Gnanadhas (2011) in their study
revealed that families were the main motivators for taking up
entrepreneurship. So, motivation of family members would certainly prove to
be fruitful. Once they get convinced about significance of entrepreneurship
then their attitude, roles, and expectations will change and they will provide
moral support, necessary guidance, and help as needed.
 According to Kamala Singh (2012), "An entrepreneur is a confident,
innovative, and creative who is capable of achieving economic independence
individually or in collaboration generates employment opportunities for others
through initiating, establishing, and running an enterprise by keeping pace
with her personal, family, and social life."

Problem Area

Entrepreneurs are exposed to adverse challenges when joining the small

business enterprises. According to Fatoki (2014), government policies have

attributed to the challenges facing the entrepreneurs. For instance, heavy

taxation does not provide a good working environment for the small business

especially those competing with the bigger institutions or the government

institutions to offer the same services. Whenever sole proprietors fail to meet

the tax requirement, they are often penalized with huge fines, which become

the genesis for the failure of the organization to pick up and make an impact to

the community (Everhart, 2018). Another factor, which hinders the growth of

the business enterprises, is task orientation (Trofimov, 2017). Many of the

entrepreneurs focus on the jobs and tasks they have at hand, which they

perform

brilliantly, but they forget about the long-term strategy that is essential for the

growth of the organization. Furthermore, the education of the entrepreneurs,

the nature and type of the business are critical in determining the severity of

the challenges that face the entrepreneurs.

Research Question
 What are the teenagers’ experiences, challenges, and their coping

mechanisms in putting up an online business?

Assumption

Starting your own business while still being young can be daunting. The

challenges encountered by youth entrepreneurs in starting up an online

business are adverse and overcoming these would take some time. These

challenges faced by youth entrepreneurs are facing age stereotypes, financial

issues, facing criticism, dealing with stress and self-doubt, and finding

customers. A viable solution to overcome these challenges is by promoting

entrepreneurship and giving the youth the proper knowledge and tools in

starting their own business. Another way to overcome the challenges faced by

youth entrepreneurs are dealing with these through perseverance, enthusiasm,

and optimism.

Importance of the Study

This study entitled "ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE EYES OF THE

YOUTH: CHALLENGES FACED BY TEENAGERS IN PUTTING UP AN ONLINE

BUSINESS" is being created to benefit the following:

Teenagers. This study will benefit teenagers because they are the subject in

this research and will lead them some advice to lessen the challenges in

putting up an online business.

Student Entrepreneur. This research is very beneficial to student

entrepreneur because they will use this as a reference to see the challenges

faced by teenagers in putting up an online business.

Business Mentors. This research will benefit the mentors for the purpose of

having the knowledge in challenges faced by teenagers. There will be time that

they will encounter teenager clients, they can make some advice after the

results was concluded.

Parents. This research will benefit parents for them to be aware to the

challenges faced by their children in putting up an online business after the

results was summarize.

Future Researchers. This research will benefit the future researchers for them

to have references as related studies or literature to their future studies.

Definition of Terms

For better understanding of the study, the following words were defined

operationally:

Challenges. This refers to the different kinds of problems that the young
entrepreneurs have encountered in running a business.
Coping Mechanisms. This refers to the strategies of techniques that young
entrepreneurs have employed in addressing the problems they have
encountered.
Entrepreneurship Education. This refers to the teachings that provide
knowledge to young entrepreneurs in starting their own business.
Online Business. It refers to any kind of business that takes place with the
use of technology and internet.
Startups. It refers to young entrepreneurs’ newly established business.
 CHAPTER II

METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE

The design and procedures done in conducting the study will be discussed in

this chapter. This chapter will show the research method used, the place where

the study will be conducted, the respondents of the study, the data measure,

the data collection procedure, the mode of data analysis, and the ethical

considerations.

Methodology

This study will employ the use of case study to determine the challenges

faced by teenagers in putting up an online business. Case study is a critical

study of a particular situation and method used to constrict a very broad field

of research into one easily researchable topic. According to Green and

Thorogod (2009), it is an in-depth study undertaken of one particular "case"

which could be a site, individual, or policy. Moreover, the role of the case study

method in research becomes more prominent when issues about education

(Gulsecen and Kulbat, 2006), sociology (Grasel and Schirmer, 2006), such as

poverty, unemployment, drug addiction, and illiteracy are raised. To make it

clearer, it is the thorough discussion of one certain phenomenon. This design

is fitted for the study since it concentrates on the gathering of data regarding
the challenges of teenagers who put up an online business. This is also a

qualitative research approach where one to one face to face interview or phone

interview will be utilized to describe the challenges faced by teenagers in

putting up an online business.

Research Design

Research Site

The study was conducted at Bangar district in the division of La Union,

this place was selected for knowing the efficiency of the said study among

teenagers who put up an online business.

Selection of Participants

The study utilized purposive sampling in determining the participants.

Purposive sampling is selecting your participant with rich experience or

interest in your study. Useful result can be obtained. Since the study is

intended to ascertain the challenges faced by teenagers in putting up an online

business, the researchers chose purposive sampling since the current situation

nowadays is new normal. The population of the study was comprised of 5-10

teenagers who successfully established an online business aged 13-19 years

old and have a profit greater than Php. 250.00 a day.

Data Measure

The study utilized semi-structured interview and researcher-made

questionnaires in measuring the data. In the semi-structured interview, the

interviewer asks a predetermined set of questions. The interviewee can answer

the question in his/her own words. Follow-up questions can be asked by the

interviewer for clarifications. Researcher-made questionnaire refers to the

instrument to be used in a research prepared or crafted by the researcher

himself/herself. In the research interview, the interviewer asks specific

questions pertaining to research objectives and the respondent answers

appropriately.

Data Collection Procedure

The researcher utilized the interview method to extract information from

the participant. Relevant questions were formulated by the researcher to

comply with necessary requirements to conduct the interview. The question is

centered on determining the challenges of teenagers in putting up an online

business.

The interview was conducted by the researcher themselves. They used

audio recordings and video camera to record conversation between the

interviewer and the interviewee to easily facilitate the recording of information.

Also, the answers of the interviewee were jotted down by interviewer.

Mode of Data Analysis

 The data collected were subjected for the analysis in the development of

a right and clear interpretation. The interview method was used to determine

the responses of successful teenagers. The responses were transcribed

carefully before they were subjected to cool and warm analysis to bring out the

themes. Further, open and axial coding method was used in the over-all

thematic analysis of the study. To this effect, a synthesizing diagram of the

reason why teenagers failed in the field of business was crafted.

Ethical Considerations

Given the highly sensitive and confidential information is likely to

surface in a study of this type, a meeting was held with the participants prior

to the conduct of the interview to inform them the nature and purpose of the

research, the plans for using the results from the interview, and the protocol to

be observed to protect the anonymity of the participants and institution they

represent (Creswell, 2009).

On the actual day of interview, the participants were requested to read

and sign the letter of consent to participate in the study and for the interview

to be recorded. The participants were assured that their participation in the

research was strictly voluntary and that they would have the freedom to

withdraw their consent at any time. To enhance participant's openness to

share their experiences more freely and vividly, it was further reiterated that

the participants may-at their dissertation-choose not to answer questions

posed by the researcher that they deemed to be intrusive, or request for the
recorder to be turned off at any time during the session. These norms were

observed by the researcher in several cases when recording sessions had to be

interrupted upon the request of participants before using certain statements

that they wished not to be recorded.

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