Entrepreneurship as an Anchor of the Operations of Disability Organizations

The study from which this monograph sprang from, critically examined the contribution of entrepreneurship in sustaining operations of disability organisation. The objectives of the study were: to investigate the significance of entrepreneurs, to assess the extent to which disability organisations have entrepreneurial culture, to assess sourcing used by disability organisations in funding their operations and to examine the effectiveness of those sources of funding in sustaining the operation of disability organisations. Qualitative research methodological approach was utilised in the study. In-depth interviews and key-informant interviews were used to collect data from fourteen participants who were selected using purposive sampling technique. The collected data was analysed using thematic data analysis. The study reveals that entrepreneurship is very important as it sustains operations of disability organisations. Entrepreneurship complements income of disability organisations. The study also brings to the fore the fact that disability organisations do not have entrepreneurship culture. Some of the sources of funding that were revealed in the study include donor aid, school fees and government support. The study has found that sources of funding disability organisations depend on are both ineffective and unreliable. This is due to donor fatigue and change in funding preferences. Disability organisations are facing several challenges; chief among them, poverty and lack of support from the government and failure of persons with disabilities to pay school fees. The study recommends that there is need for all disability organisations to be entrepreneurial. There is also need for donors to use empowerment model and desist from charity model that creates dependence. There is also need for government to support disability organisations