Business Management and Strategy ISSN 2157-6068 2016, Vol. 7, No. 1 www.macrothink.org/bms 159 Entrepreneurial Characteristics and Business Profile of Women Owned Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): A Case Study of the Tamale Metropolitan Area Eva Atu Alhassan (Corresponding author) Dept. of Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana E-mail: evaatu@yahoo.com Mabel Akosua Hoedoafia Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Catholic University College of Ghana, Fiapre - Sunyani, Ghana E-mail: mhoedoafia@yahoo.com Elvis Adam Alhassan Dept. of Mathematics, University for Development Studies, Navrongo, Ghana E-mail: aelvis@uds.edu.gh Received: January 24, 2016 Accepted: February 11, 2016 Published: June 6, 2016 doi:10.5296/bms.v7i1.8934 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/bms.v7i1.8934 Abstract Despite the vital role of women entrepreneurs in the economic development of their families and countries, it has been revealed that they have low business performance compared to their male counterparts. In this paper, an analysis of the business profile and entrepreneurial characteristics of women owned Small and Medium Enterprises in the Tamale Metropolis has been carried out. A cross-sectional design was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of women entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs who have benefited from