Business Opportunities for Rural Areas in Ilam Province

Abstract

The rural areas of Ilam province are facing many problems in employment and production, and the development of entrepreneurial activities in these areas is essential. Opportunity identification has a very fundamental role in entrepreneurial activities. The study was carried out on home business opportunities for rural areas in Ilam province. The research used a combined qualitative and quantitative methodology. The methodology was qualitative in the first phase, using semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. A descriptive survey methodology was used in the second phase. Participants were purposefully selected from village administrators, experts of the Coordination Office of Economic Affairs Governor, experts of the Jahad-e Agriculture organization, experts of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Organization, and experts of the Industry, Mining, and Trade Organization. Data were collected from 72 participants in nine sessions as a focus group discussion attended by 6–11 people. They were qualitatively analyzed by Strauss and Corbin’s constant comparison method in three coding phases. They were quantitatively analyzed with the SPSS software package. In the end, the home businesses in priority in each Township were introduced for the agricultural sector, processing industries, and handicraft industries.