Empowering Assam's Small Tea Growers: Exploring Global Entrepreneurship, Challenges, and Success Stories in Premium Tea Production

This study examines global entrepreneurship among Assam’s small tea growers (STGs) by addressing a key research gap: although Assam contributes significantly to India’s tea production, limited scholarly attention has been given to how individual STGs pursue internationalization, develop entrepreneurial capabilities, and overcome export-related constraints. To address this gap, the study adopts a qualitative exploratory design grounded in a conceptual–interpretive approach, drawing on semi-structured interviews with three STGs actively engaged in international markets. The investigation traces their transition from local cultivation to global value chains, focusing on the role of family support, entrepreneurial traits, and natural-farming innovations in shaping their international trajectories. Despite following distinct pathways to foreign markets, the entrepreneurs reported common barriers, including inadequate access to finance, regulatory hurdles, and intense global competition. The findings emphasize the need for targeted policy interventions, institutional support, and knowledge-sharing mechanisms to enhance the global competitiveness of Assam’s small tea sector. By illuminating the entrepreneurial processes and challenges of STGs, the study contributes to the literature on international entrepreneurship in under-researched agricultural contexts and highlights pathways for strengthening regional economic development.