Leadership skills and entrepreneurship success in Saudi Arabia

by Assaf Hadeel Radhwaa

Most entrepreneurial businesses fail within the first 5 years of establishment. One of the major causes is the lack of leadership skills by the entrepreneurs. The aim of this quantitative study was to define the leadership skills that were required by entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia in creating and sustaining entrepreneurial business successfully beyond 5 years and to identify the environmental factors affecting entrepreneurship ecosystem in Saudi Arabia. The population of interest in this study was entrepreneurs from Tasamy in Saudi Arabia. Tasamy is a non-profit organization that focuses on supporting entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia. To answer the research questions for this study, online surveys were gathered from 125 entrepreneurs, who were 23 years or older, and whose businesses have been in operation for at least 5 years or longer in Saudi Arabia. There were more men in the sample (70.4%) than women (29.6%).