RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Profile of the Rural Entrepreneurs
Table 3 summarises the profile of the rural entrepreneurs under the ODOI
programme.
The sample comprised mainly Malays (96.5 per cent) who were representative of the major racial group of the Malaysian rural population. The median age was 48 year old where more than half (56.7 per cent) belonged to the active working age of between 40 and 49 years old. Most of the respondents were married (89.6 per cent). It is interesting to note that about 60 per cent of the entrepreneurs were female. The higher percentage of female entrepreneurs in the sample may be explained by the fact that enterprises under ODOI were mostly labour intensive and that rural women have ventured into small businesses either as a means to seek extra income or as a career choice.