Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Women empowerment through entrepreneurship : An investigation of women-owned small medium micro enterprises in South Africa.

Dissertation (MSS (Development Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2021.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Thebe, Vusilizwe
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2022
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613685142257664
access_status_str Open Access
author2 Thebe, Vusilizwe
author_browse Thebe, Vusilizwe
author_facet Thebe, Vusilizwe
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MSS (Development Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2021.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/83145
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:40:03.959Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2022
publishDateRange 2022
publishDateSort 2022
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/83145 Women empowerment through entrepreneurship : An investigation of women-owned small medium micro enterprises in South Africa. Thebe, Vusilizwe u19332221@tuks.co.za Chuene, Joyce Motshidisi UCTD Entrepreneurship Government policy Policy Empowerment Women owned enterprise Dissertation (MSS (Development Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2021. Worldwide, women entrepreneurs play a major role in the economic growth and development of any nation, yet women are still facing multiple challenges in the Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) sector. The South African government endeavours to accelerate economic growth, job creation and to address inequalities, through enterprise development and support. It created and enacted laws that seek to create an enabling environment for the growth and support of women-owned SMMEs. The government introduced the 1995 White Paper on Small Business Development, which clearly outlines that government agencies are compelled to develop and implement programmes geared towards the support and promotion of women-owned SMMEs. The focus of the study was to investigate the role of government agencies in empowering women-owned SMMEs. The research was exploratory in nature, as such, a qualitative approach based on a combination of research techniques was adopted. The study involved three phases, firstly, a thorough review of literature on the gender and poverty situation in South Africa, empowerment efforts, policies, and other initiatives. Secondly, interviews with key individuals were conducted in order to understand the impact of government interventions on women-owned SMMES from their expertise point of view. Thirdly, the empirical part of the study comprised of interviews with women entrepreneurs in an effort to explore their views on government support on women-owned SMMEs. Findings from the study indicate that whilst the government has made significant progress on the development of initiatives that stimulate women entrepreneurship in the country, a majority of women entrepreneurs have not managed to benefit from the available initiatives. This in a way continues to compromise the effectiveness of the enacted policies. For instance, most women entrepreneurs are not aware of the types of initiatives that the government is offering to the SMMEs sector; moreover, lack of accessibility has also hindered women, entrepreneurs, from obtaining government support. The suitability of these initiatives concerning addressing the different needs of women entrepreneurs also remains questionable, as women are treated as a homogeneous group. Perhaps, the main challenge that the South African government is facing, is the implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and the marketing or rather promotion of these initiatives to the population at large. This thesis recommends that the government should review the current policies and programmes designed to assist women entrepreneurs in this country in order to evaluate the weaknesses and strengths that are inherent in the system. Future programmes should be designed based on empirical research in order to match the actual needs of women entrepreneurs in relation to the challenges t they encounter. This is crucial because women in the small business sector are a heterogeneous group with different needs and challenges. Anthropology and Archaeology MSc (Development Studies) Unrestricted 2022-01-11T07:29:49Z 2022-01-11T07:29:49Z 2021-04-02 2021 Dissertation * A2022 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/83145 en © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Entrepreneurship
Government policy
Policy
Empowerment
Women owned enterprise
Women empowerment through entrepreneurship : An investigation of women-owned small medium micro enterprises in South Africa.
title Women empowerment through entrepreneurship : An investigation of women-owned small medium micro enterprises in South Africa.
title_full Women empowerment through entrepreneurship : An investigation of women-owned small medium micro enterprises in South Africa.
title_fullStr Women empowerment through entrepreneurship : An investigation of women-owned small medium micro enterprises in South Africa.
title_full_unstemmed Women empowerment through entrepreneurship : An investigation of women-owned small medium micro enterprises in South Africa.
title_short Women empowerment through entrepreneurship : An investigation of women-owned small medium micro enterprises in South Africa.
title_sort women empowerment through entrepreneurship an investigation of women owned small medium micro enterprises in south africa
topic UCTD
Entrepreneurship
Government policy
Policy
Empowerment
Women owned enterprise
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/83145