Curriculum Development for the Fostering Consultant in the Field of Rural Women's Business Startup

농촌여성의 소규모 창업을 위한 컨설팅 전문가 육성 교육과정 연구

The objective of this research is to acquire basic data to develop a program for professional consultants who can consult and provide advice for rural women's small business entrepreneur. In this research, startup business educational programs and 10 major related textbooks in Korea were analyzed, and a survey was conducted in which 71 owners of government funded rural small business responded. The major findings are as follows; First, most programs were targeting city females and were providing basic information mostly using lecture method over a few days. And no programs for rural women's small business could be found. Second, no textbooks dealing with rural women's small business could be found and the contents of each textbook differed significantly even though there were a few common points. Third, the result of the survey indicated that rural women's small business entrepreneurs had difficulty especially in acquiring necessary initial funds and raw materials, selling products, and judging the possibility of business success. And, there was significant difference in importance and perceived knowledge over 36 business know-hows in business startup area among the respondents. Based on the results, the followings could be recommended; First, educational programs for rural women's small business entrepreneurs should use a unique and different approach than other industries. Also, it is necessary to foster startup consultants especially for the rural women's small business entrepreneurs and to develop a delivery system for the startup educational programs. Second, contents of educational programs need to be selectively included depending on the level of uses. Finally, a workbook should be developed so that entrepreneur candidates can actually practice rather than just acquiring basic information and superficial knowledge during the participation.