Typology of the entrepreneurial profile of young people in the agricultural sector in northern Benin

Abstract

The study aims to produce a typology of the entrepreneurial profile of young people in connection with the agricultural sector. It was conducted among 301 randomly selected young people in northern Benin. The method of factorial analysis of correspondences was used to characterize young people from two qualitative variables: agricultural training and professional status. The results show that in the study area there are four profiles of young people grouped into two groups depending on whether they are entrepreneurs or not. The first group includes qualified agro-entrepreneurs and practicing agro-entrepreneurs who respectively represent 24% and 76% of the total number of agricultural entrepreneurs. As for non-agricultural entrepreneurs, 14% are non-practitioner agronomists and 86% relative non-agricultural entrepreneurs. The study highlights among young people, the low rate of professional qualification in agriculture, the high proportion of agro-entrepreneurs with agricultural entrepreneur parents and the retraining of some young graduates in agriculture towards professional options other than agricultural entrepreneurship. Taking into account the specificities of each youth profile could help increase the relevance of interventions aimed at promoting agricultural entrepreneurship among young people.

Keywords: Typology, Profile, Agricultural entrepreneurship, Youth, Benin