Abstract
This chapter will provide a historical overview of South Africa in order to contextualise the challenges currently faced by entrepreneurs and specifically women entrepreneurs in this country. The history of South Africa is still affecting the lives of its citizens on a daily basis. This chapter continues to investigate the entrepreneurship ecosystem in South Africa. The entrepreneurship ecosystem is based on 14 pillars: opportunity perception, start-up skills, risk acceptance, networking, cultural support, opportunity start-up, technology absorption, human capital, competition, product innovation, process innovation, high growth, internationalisation and risk capital. This chapter concludes by looking towards the future of women entrepreneurship in South Africa, highlighting the changes that are required from all of the stakeholders that form part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
AbdelAzim, M., & Morris R. (2018). Evaluation & network analysis of the Cape Town—Stellenbosch tech sector. Endeavor Insight Report, Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi).
AfDB (African Development Bank). (2015). AfDB invests in women-owned SMEs in Africa through Alitheia Identity Fund [online]. https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/afdb-invests-in-women-owned-smes-in-africa-through-alitheia-identity-fund-aif-15253
Africa Facts. (2018). What is BRICS. Africa Facts [online]. https://africa-facts.org/what-is-brics/
Alitheia IDF. (2021). A pioneering private equity fund [online]. https://www.alitheiaidf.com/
ANDE (Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs). (2017). South Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem map. Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) South Africa Chapter.
ANDESA. (2017). Entrepreneurial ecosystem snapshot: South Africa. Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) South African Chapter. Available from https://www.andeglobal.org/publication/entrepreneurial-ecosytem-snapshot-south-africa/
Arregle, J. L., Batjargal, B., Hitt, M. A., Webb, J. W., Miller, T., & Tsui, A. S. (2015). Family ties in entrepreneurs’ social networks and new venture growth. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39(2), 313–344.
AUC (African Union Comission). (2015). Agenda 2063: The Africa we want. AUC.
AUC (African Union Comission). (2018). Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area. African Union. https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36437-treaty-consolidated_text_on_cfta_-_en.pdf
Badenhorst C. (2020, October 23). Sad SAs speak: The ANC leaves us no choice…we have to emigrate! Biz News Digest.
BBC. (2018). South Africa profile—timeline. BBC News Service [online]. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14094918
Bello, H. S. (2019). Female entrepreneurship in the African fashion industry: A review of its determinants and characteristics. In C. Moreno-Gavara & A. I. Jimenez-Zarco (Eds.), Sustainable Fashion: Empowering African women entrepreneurs in the fashion industry (pp. 77–97). Springer.
Biofin (The Biodiversity Finance Inititative). (2017). Biodiversity finance: South Africa [online]. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), New York, United States. http://www.biodiversityfinance.org/south-africa
Blignaut, M. (2019). Meet Boitumelo Ntsoane, who was a typical township girl, now successful business woman. Briefly [online]. Available from https://briefly.co.za/16057-meet-boitumelo-ntsoane-a-typical-township-girl-successful-business-woman.html
Botes, C. (2018). Fear of failure hinders South Africa’s aspiring entrepreneurs. Business Partners ZA [online]. https://www.businesspartners.co.za/en-za/media-centre/media-releases/south-africa/fear-of-failure-hinders-south-africa%E2%80%99s-aspiring-entrepreneurs
Botha, T. (2019). The impact of ‘load-shedding’ within the Nelson Mandela Bay restaurant industry (Doctoral dissertation, The IIE).
Botti, R. (2019). Fashion sector outsourcing to African countries: Taking advantage of low-cost labor? In C. Moreno-Gavara & A. I. Jimenez-Zarco (Eds.), Sustainable Fashion: Empowering African women entrepreneurs in the fashion industry (pp. 5–35). Springer.
Burger, P., & Fourie, F. (2019). The unemployed and the formal and informal sectors in South Africa: A macroeconomic analysis. South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, 22(1), 1–12.
Cable UK. (2020). Worldwide mobile data pricing 2020—the cost of 1GB mobile data in 228 countries [online]. https://www.cable.co.uk/mobiles/worldwide-data-pricing/#resources
Cameron, J. (2020, October 12). Emigration alarm: SA’s rich get set to leave in droves—IRR. Biz news Digest
CBD. (n.d.). Biodiversity facts: Status and trends of biodiversity in South Africa. Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Environment Programme [online]. https://www.cbd.int/countries/profile/?country=za
Chapman, T. (2020). What is an entrepreneurial ecosystem? Chapman & Company [online]. https://www.chapmanandcompany.co/blog/what-is-a-entrepreneurial-ecosystem
Chiloane, G. E., & Mayhew, W. (2010). Difficulties encountered by black women entrepreneurs in accessing training from the small enterprise development agency in South Africa. Gender and Behaviour, 8(1), 2590–2602.
Crampton, N. (2019). Watch list: 50 top SA businesswomen to watch. Entrepreneur.com [online]. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/327573
Cullis, C. (2014). Loadshedding—what you need to do. Cape Talk [online]. http://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/791/loadshedding-all-you-need-to-know-and-what-you-need-to-do
CureMed. (2020, August 07). Celebrating women’s month in South Africa. CureMed Health and Wealth Consultants [online]. https://curemed.co.za/2020/08/07/celebrating-womens-month-in-south-africa/
Dana, L.-P. (1993a, July). An analysis of the strategic interventionist policy in Namibia. Journal of Small Business Management, 31(3), 90–95.
Dana, L.-P. (1993b, December). Towards Internationalization of Entrepreneurship: Two Models in Eastern Africa. Journal of International Business & Entrepreneurship, II(2), 83–108.
Davies, R., & Thurlow, J. (2010). Formal–informal economy linkages and unemployment in South Africa. South African Journal of Economics, 78(4), 437–459.
DEA. (2015). The emergence of modern humans: The Pleistocene occupation sites of South Africa. Department of Environmental Affairs of the Republic of South Africa, Pretoria. https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6050/
Dobbs, R., Woetzel, J., Madgavkar, A., Ellingrud, K., Labaye, E., Devillard, S., Kutcher, E., Manyika, J., & Krishnan, M. (2015), How advancing women’s equality can add $12 trillion to global growth. McKinsey Global Institute Report. Available from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/how-advancing-womens-equality-canadd-6-trillion-to-global-growth
Elam, A. B., Brush, C. G., Greene, P. G., Baumer, B., Dean, M., & Heavlow, R. (2019). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: 2018/2019 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report.
Eskom. (2019). Eskom company information overview. [Online]. http://www.eskom.co.za/OurCompany/CompanyInformation/Pages/Company_Information.aspx
ExpertHub. (2016, October 27). NSBC announces the finalists of the South African Small Business Award. ExpertHub Today [online]. https://www.experthub.info/news/experthub-today/nsbc-announces-the-finalists-of-the-south-african-small-business-awards/
Fair Lady. (2015, August 20). FAIRLADY Women of the future winners announced. Media Update [online]. Available from https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/media/80171/fairlady-women-of-the-future-winners-announced
Fatoki, O. (2016). The obstacles to the use of information and communication technologies by female informal traders in South Africa. Journal of Social Science, 49(3), 303–306.
Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute. (2017). The entrepreneurial Ecosystem of South Africa: A strategy for global leadership 2017. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b27b266c3c16ad504d5d173/t/5b446bef03ce64f8b98a482e/1531210744303/GEDI+South+Africa+Analysis.compressed.pdf
Goodman, P. S. (2017). End of Apartheid in South Africa? Not in economic terms. New York Times [online]. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/business/south-africa-economy-apartheid.html
Herrington, M., & Kew, P. (2017). South African Report 2015/16—Is South Africa heading for an economic meltdown. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.
Herrington, M., & Kew, P. (2019). Is there a change in attitude towards the small and medium business Sector in South Africa 2017/18. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.
Hurlbut, W. B. (Ed.). (2018). Overcoming poverty and inequality in South Africa—An assessment of drivers, constraints, and opportunities. The World Bank Group.
IDC (Industrial Development Corporation). (2020). CSI Report 2020 [online]. https://www.idc.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IDC-CSI-Report-2020.pdf
Internet World Stats. (2020). Internet users statistics for Africa [online]. https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm
Ionescu-Somers, A., Tarnawa, A., & GERA (Global Entrepreneurship Research Association). (2020). Diagnosing COVID-19 Impacts on Entrepreneurship—Exploring policy remedies for recovery. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.
Jackson, T. (2016). Why a culture shift is needed in SA entrepreneurship. Disrupt Africa [online]. https://disrupt-africa.com/2016/09/27/why-a-culture-shift-is-needed-in-sa-entrepreneurship/
Kahn, M. J. (2011). The BRICs and South Africa as the gateway to Africa. Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 111(7), 493–496.
Kamberidou, I. (2020). “Distinguished” women entrepreneurs in the digital economy and the multitasking whirlpool. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 9(1), 3.
Louw, L. B. (2018). Retrenchment in the insurance industry: The small business development dividend (Unpublished MCom thesis), University of South Africa, Pretoria.
Lowe, C. C. (2021). Countries of the World: South Africa. Encyclopaedia Britannica [online]. https://www.britannica.com/place/South-Africa
Lussier, R. N., Corman, J., & Kimball, D. C. (2015). Entrepreneurial new venture skills (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Mandipaka, F. (2014). Overview of women entrepreneurs in South Africa. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 5(9), 127–127.
McAdam, M., Harrison, R. T., & Leitch, C. M. (2019). Stories from the field: Women’s networking as gender capital in entrepreneurial ecosystems. Small Business Economics, 53(2), 459–474.
Meyer, N., & Hamilton, L. (2020). Female entrepreneurs’ business training and its effect on various entrepreneurial factors: Evidence from a develo** country. International Journal of Economics and Finance Studies, 12(1), 135–151.
Moodley, L., Holt, T., Leke, A., & Desvaux, G. (2016). Women matter Africa. McKinsy & Company Report. McKinsey Global Institute.
Moreno-Gavara, C., & Jimenez-Zarco, A. I. (Eds.). (2019). Sustainable fashion: Empowering African women entrepreneurs in the fashion industry (pp. 1–4). Springer.
Moreno-Gavara, C., Jimenez-Zarco, A. I., & Alabi, O. (2019). Challenges and opportunities for women entrepreneurs. In C. Moreno-Gavara & A. I. Jimenez-Zarco (Eds.), Sustainable fashion: Empowering African women entrepreneurs in the fashion industry (pp. 115–145). Springer.
Moyer, J. D., Kabandula, A., Bohl, D. K., Hanna, T., Mayaki, I., & Bwalya, M. (2020). Conditions for success in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures.
Mukorera, S. Z. (2020). Is entrepreneurship the solution for female empowerment in South Africa. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 25(01), 2050003.
Nambiar, Y. (2015). The psycho-social support ecosystem for women entrepreneurs in townships: Barriers and enablers (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pretoria).
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2020a). Main economic indicators (Vol. 2020 (12)). OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/3b66e83c-en
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2020b). The impact of COVID-19 on SME financing: A special edition of the OECD Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs Scoreboard. OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Papers, No. 22, OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/ecd81a65-en
Parry, B. R., & Segalo, P. (2017). Eating burnt toast: The lived experiences of female breadwinners in South Africa. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 18(4), 182–196.
Plus-Fab. (2021). About Ouma. Plus Fab (online). Available from https://www.plus-fab.com/pages/aboutplusfab
Rabana, R. (2020, November 30). Continuous, integrated learning. Rekindle Learning [online]. https://rekindlelearning.com/insights/continuous-integrated-learning/
Ramadani, V., Memili, E., Dana, L. P., & Ramadani, V. (2020). Women’s entrepreneurship in North Macedonia. In R. Palalić, E. Knezović, & L. P. Dana (Eds.), Women’s entrepreneurship in former Yugoslavia. Contributions to management science. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45253-7_6
Ramerini, M. (n.d.). The Dutch in South Africa, 1652–1795 and 1802–1806. Colonial Voyage [online]. https://www.colonialvoyage.com/dutch-south-africa/
Republic of South Africa (RSA). (1996). Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996. Government Printing Works.
Rosen, M. (2020, January 31). SA businesses are on the back foot thanks to load shedding. Is there a way out? City Press. Available from https://www.news24.com/citypress/voices/sa-businesses-are-on-the-back-foot-thanks-to-load-shedding-is-there-a-way-out-20200131
SABC News. (2019, December 07). Small businesses feeling the pinch of loadshedding. South African Broadcasting Network News Online [online]. https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/small-businesses-feel-the-pinch-of-loadshedding/
SADC (Southern Africa Development Community). (2015). Consolidated text of the treaty of the Southern African Development Community. Gaborone, Botswana.
SADC (Southern Africa Development Community). (2020). SADC selected economic and social indicators 2019. Gaborone, Botswana.
SAHO. (n.d.). South African history timeline. South African History Online [online]. https://www.sahistory.org.za/taxonomy/timeline-categories/south-african-history-timeline
Schwab, K. (Ed.). (2019). The global competitiveness report 2019. World Economic Forum.
Shift One. (n.d.) Corporate social investment projects. Shift One [online]. https://www.shiftone.co.za/shift-one-csi-projects/
Smith, C. (2020, September 26). Women-owned business present lower risk factor, data shows. Finance24. https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/women-owned-businesses-present-lower-risk-factor-data-shows-20200922
South African Market Insights. (2020). South Africa’s education statistics [online]. https://www.southafricanmi.com/education-statistics.html
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). (2020a). Mid-year population estimates 2020. Pretoria.
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). (2020b). Quarterly labour force survey, Quarter 3. Pretoria.
The World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development). (2020). Sub-Saharan Africa macro poverty outlook: Country-by-country analysis and projections for the develo** world. The World Bank Group.
Tjabane, O. J. J. (2020, November). Boosting growth in a post-pandemic economy. Leadership Magazine.
Turner, L. (2018). 10 facts about girls’ education in South Africa. The Borgen Project [online]. https://borgenproject.org/facts-about-girls-education-in-south-africa/#:~:text=In%20South%20Africa%2C%20primary%20school,girls%2C%20it%20was%2090.9%20percent
UNESCO/ERI. (2018). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Education Information Resources, Countries Pages: South Africa. UNESCO/ERI [online]. https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/za/
Valodia, I., & Devey, R. (2010). Formal-informal economy linkages: What implications for poverty in South Africa? Law, Democracy & Development, 14, 1–26.
Van der Berg, S., & Hofmeyr, H. (2018). South Africa—Systematic country diagnostic: An incomplete transition—overcoming the legacy of exclusion in South Africa. World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/815401525706928690/South-Africa-Systematic-country-diagnostic-an-incomplete-transition-overcoming-the-legacy-of-exclusion-in-South-Africa
Van der Berk, K., & Ngcuka, O. (2019, December 11). Small business owners hard hit by SA’s loadshedding. Business Day [online]. https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/economy/2019-12-11-small-business-owners-hard-hit-by-sas-load-shedding/
Van Heerden, G. (2020). South Africa’s departing elites: A critical warning sign. Centre for Risk Analysis South Africa.
Von Ketelhodt, A., & Wöcke, A. (2008). The impact of electricity crises on the consumption behaviour of small and medium enterprises. Journal of Energy in Southern Africa, 19(1), 4–12.
White, M. M., Jones, J. M., Riley, K., & Fernandez, R. (2009). Women, family, and the rural economy. Fullbright-Hays Group Project Abroad.
Zizile, T., & Tendai, C. (2018). The importance of entrepreneurial competencies on the performance of women entrepreneurs in South Africa. Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR), 34(2), 223–236.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Louw, L.B. (2022). Women Entrepreneurs in South Africa. In: Dabić, M., Dana, LP., Nziku, D.M., Ramadani, V. (eds) Women Entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98966-8_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98966-8_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-98965-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-98966-8
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)