ABSTRACT
This chapter provides background on the Polish economy and the development of small businesses within the Polish tourism industry. It presents model of organizational life-cycle and entrepreneurial development that uses various stages of the business life-cycle to analyse the characteristics of Polish entrepreneurial firms within the tourism industry. The model also focuses on five factors affecting entrepreneurial success: government policies and procedures; socioeconomic conditions; entrepreneurial and business skills; financial assistance; and non-financial assistance. Socioeconomic conditions and entrepreneurial culture were considered as critical entrepreneurial ecosystem domains for success during all four stages of growth and development. Government policies should be enacted to improve these conditions for women entrepreneurs in informal sectors such as tourism. The chapter provides recommendations for policy makers to foster and encourages female entrepreneurship through targeted policy initiatives that reflect an understanding of the factors that constitute barriers to the success of female entrepreneurial activity.
