Abstract:
There is a growing interest in the women participation in business ventures in Africa. The
move has seen huge endorsements of capital from donors, governments and private sector to
entrepreneurial development among women. Despite these efforts business growth among
women entrepreneurs seems to be slower than is the case with their male counter parts.
Studies that have so far been conducted in Africa have been focusing much on emancipating
women from various social cultural and economic barriers. Negotiation is very important in
business success. This article explores women entrepreneurs’ business negotiations practices
in Tanzania agribusiness. Purposive sampling technique was used for selection of the
respondents to participate in the study. The study employed interview-administered
questionnaire and 131 women small-scale entrepreneurs involved in selling of agri-food
participated in the study. Descriptive analysis employed and data were analysed by using the
Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) window 16.0. In general study indicates that
women lack soft skills during business negotiations and feel shy when negotiate with their
male counter parts. For the growth of the business owned by women some advice were
provided for building business negotiation skills of entrepreneurs.
