Oil palm is an essential and strategic commodity in the Riau area
because of its considerable role in supporting the peoples’ economy,
especially for plantation farmers. Oil palm plantation activities have
brought economic impacts to society there, both for the people who are
directly involved with the plantations and for their surrounding
communities. This regional advantage is a facility for farmers to be
able to develop their farms as plantations. The aims of this research
are to identify the entrepreneurship characteristics of the oil palm
farmers, and also to identify the entrepreneurship characteristics that
differentiate the farmers, as seen from their business’ achievements.
The research used a grounded theory approach to identify the
characteristics of oil palm farmers systematically. The sampling method
used for the research was theoretical sampling, which is data gathering
driven by the concepts derived from the theory of previous
entrepreneurship characteristics studies. The research object is the oil
palm farmers in Riau, Indonesia. The results of the analysis identified
the entrepreneurship characteristics of the oil palm farmers, they are
growth oriented, risk-taking, innovative, with a sense of personal
control, self confident, and cooperative. But, among the
characteristics, only the characteristic of their cooperation did not
differentiate the oil palm farmers in the achievement of their business
activities.