This study was set out to examine the influence of owner-manager's competences on the performance of small restaurant businesses in urban Tanzania since there are patchy empirical evidences on the same. To achieve this, criterion and simple random sampling techniques were employed to obtain a sample of three hundred, ninety two (392) small restaurant businesses from the list of all licensed small restaurants in Ilala and Dodoma district. Information was collected from owner-managers of these entities by using structured questionnaires. Data was analyzed both descriptively and by using structural equation modelling for making inference. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was performed to validate the items measuring the owner-manager entrepreneurial, managerial and functional competencies as latent variables. Performance of small restaurant was measured subjectively by considering the number of customer's dynamics and changes in lifestyle of the owner-manager as a result of the business undertaken over past three years of operation. It was found that owner-manager's managerial and functional competencies contribute significantly to the performance of the small restaurant businesses in urban Tanzania. This is true but they cannot be in operation unless entrepreneurial competencies are in place. This implies that, performance relies on base (entrepreneurial) and operational (managerial and functional) that need to be improved. As such, policy makers may not only rely on entrepreneurial aspects but also extend to the managerial and functional aspects of performance.

This study examines the influence of owner-manager demographic characteristics on attainment of their competencies in Tanzania, because there are scant empirical evidences on the same. The data used in this study were obtained through a survey of 392 small restaurant businesses from Ilala and Dodoma in Tanzania. Information was collected from the owner-managers of these entities by using structured questionnaires. Competencies of the owner-managers were measured subjectively by assessing their ability to perform entrepreneurial, managerial and functional works. Thus, the study uses Structural equation model to analyze the latent variable data collected. Study results have shown that among the demographic characteristics of the ownermanager, formal education and family background in doing business are more important in explaining how competent an owner-manager is in all three competencies. Furthermore, age of the owner-manager is very important in explaining how competent the owner-manager is in terms of managing the business while their industrial working experiences are more important in explaining the owner-manager ability to fulfill functional activities. These results imply that, whoever wants to operate the small restaurant business should try to understand their demographic characteristics. That is, to match themselves with the competencies of fulfilling entrepreneurial, managerial and functional activities or decide on any other way of compensating for their weaknesses for better business performances.

The authors investigated retired public workers' involvement in entrepreneurship by describing the choice of entrepreneurship activities by retirees, factors that motivate or compel them to partake in entrepreneurship, and challenges encountered by retirees in managing their ventures. The study employed a snowball sampling technique to ensure that the appropriate respondents were contacted and included in the sample. The study found that, to a large extent, retired workers became involved in entrepreneurship due to push factors that include fear of boredom and failure to meet personal and family needs. On the other hand, other retirees enter into entrepreneurship due to pull factors that include the desire for profits and capital gains, and the desire to accumulate wealth and assets. The study also found that retirees prefer to participate in crop and livestock production, retail businesses, and service-oriented businesses. The study found that limited seed and growth capital and inaccessibility to financial and credit markets are the main challenges facing retirees' businesses.