Zaleha Embong and Nur Fatihah Sulaiman
Women's involvement in the business sphere has shown a positive effect on the economic development of the country. In fact, the success of women in business and entrepreneurship shows the abilities of women entrepreneurs in empowering the country's economy. The effort and persistence in running the business is a testament to the strong nature and patience as the business field requires a variety of strategies to achieve success. Many women are involved in business especially women entrepreneurs in Kelantan who have created various successes. Thus, this article aims to identify the driving factors and success of women in the field of entrepreneurship in Kelantan. This article uses a qualitative approach in collecting the necessary data. This method uses an in-depth interview instrument dan purposive sampling. Thus, 11 informants were selected consisting of Kelantanese women entrepreneurs to meet the needs of the study. The data were analyzed thematically, which is themed as the driving factor and success of women entrepreneurs in Kelantan as well as formulating the model of empowerment of these women entrepreneurs. The findings showed that the driving factors of their involvement in business stands from the need to change the economic status of the family, interest in business, helping their spouses for the household economy and inheriting the business from the family. The success factors for women entrepreneurs are mainly due to their deep interest, careful planning, and business knowledge and risk-taking readiness. This has brought success to many women entrepreneurs in Kelantan. In fact, these entrepreneurs also open up opportunities for women to increase their income.