European Journal of Business and Management www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1905 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2839 (Online) Vol.5, No.16, 2013 148 Motivation, Success Factors and Challenges of Entrepreneurs in Khulna City of Bangladesh Md. Reaz Uddin 1 Tarun Kanti Bose 2* 1. Business Administration Discipline, Khulna University, PO box 9208, Khulna, Bangladesh 2. Business Administration Discipline, Khulna University, PO box 9208, Khulna, Bangladesh * E-mail of the corresponding author: tarun84ku @yahoo.com Abstract Bangladesh is a high densely populated country where creating employment opportunity is a great challenge. Development of entrepreneurship can be a positive advancement in this regard because of its recognized role of creating sufficient scope of employment. Considering this significance, this study has put a great stride to identify motivation, success factors and the challenges of entrepreneurs in Khulna City of Bangladesh. Data were collected from entrepreneurs running business in this city using structured questionnaires developed based on previous studies. Factor analysis was applied first to find the factors associated with motivation, success and challenges of entrepreneurs and later multiple regression technique was used to identify the factors which are statistically significant. This study has found independence, personal and family security, self employment and intrinsic factors are associated with motivation where independence, personal and family security, and self employment are statistically significant. Business environment, policy issues, infrastructure, raw materials, political instability and costs of equipment are found linked with challenges of entrepreneurs in Khulna city where business environment, infrastructure, and raw material are statistically significant. It has been identified that managerial capability, experience and training, family support and honesty, social network, and price and location are success factors. Managerial capability, experience and training, family support and honesty are significant statistically. Keywords: Motivation, Success, Challenge, Entrepreneurs 1. Introduction Bangladesh is an underdeveloped country which is familiar for her high density of population. This country has been struggling since its independence in 1971 to be economically developed but this has not been achieved. Still substantial number of people live below the line of poverty. This country is highly characterized by dependence on agriculture. More than 80 percent of population directly or indirectly depends on agriculture for their livelihood that results in low standard of living. It is true that mere dependence on agriculture is can hardly generate huge income opportunities which are a must for country like Bangladesh. Such opportunities can improve living standard and expedite existing economic development. Industrialization particularly agro based can be a good alternative which needs contributions of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have been recognized for the significant role they play in sustainable economic development (O’Neil and Viljeon, 2001). Usually a country has different resources like natural, human and others. The only resource that is difficult to imitate and could offer strategic benefits is human resource. Human resource has been indentified not only as a major growth determinant and a channel to ease poverty but it is also very important in building or improving the quality of human beings in general (Kasim et al, 2010). A county can enjoy competitive advantage by putting his resources either natural or human in productive use. This requires creation of sufficient scope for employing this resource at right place and at right time. Otherwise, this resource may turn into a burden for a country what is appearing in Bangladesh. This country needs to identify ways of utilizing her resources in most fruitful fashion. The best alternative is generating and nurturing a robust entrepreneurial culture. It is well known globally that entrepreneurship is considered a growth engine for its phenomena of creating huge employment opportunities. Potential contribution of entrepreneurship development to employment and income has been generally recognized (Okpara and Wynn, 2007). 2. Literature Review Entrepreneurship is considered as an engine of growth for an economy. Substantial number of researcher is concentrating on how to capitalize existing entrepreneurial endeavor and make it robust. The best way would be to know what motivates them, what challenges them to take further initiatives and what makes their efforts successful. Many researchers have identified factors associated with motivation, success and challenges of entrepreneurs. 2.1 Motivation Saffu, Apori, and Elijah-Mensah (2009) worked to identify motivation and challenges of livestock entrepreneurs of Ghana. Working on three hundred farmers, they found that some personal, employment and financial factors