Mursali Milanzi

By Anselm Namala and Mursali A. Milanzi

Venturing into a business venture at an old age is an interesting phenomenon. Retirees seem to consider this decision as imperative as it provides them with a source of earning and keeps them active post-retirement. Despite a plethora of research on entrepreneurship, there is a paucity of research on entrepreneurial behavior and performance retired public servants. The current study examines the motive and performance of businesses owned by retired public servants in Tanzania, one of the developing economies. The study used a survey of 90 randomly selected public servants who retired between 2012 and 2016. The descriptive and probit regression analyses were used to examine the entrepreneurial performance and factors associated with it. The results of the analysis suggest that the performance of the businesses is generally not good, as the majority made losses for the past 3 years consecutively. As for the determinants of performance, the study observed that age and source of capital negatively affect performance, whereas education and planning/preparations for business establishment positively influenced entrepreneurial performance. The findings imply that employees, employers and social security industry have a role to play in creating awareness and preparing public service employees for life after retirement especially in sustaining post-retirement income. Lumpsum pension and monthly allowance may be necessary, but the knowledge to manage them through profitable business ventures my be sufficient for a better post-retirement life.

Part of the book: Who Wants to Retire and Who Can Afford to Retire?