Browsing by Author "Mogotsi, Claire Kagiso Mmamodumedi"

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    Barriers to accessing funding for women entrepreneurship technology start-ups in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Mogotsi, Claire Kagiso Mmamodumedi; Urban, Boris
    Orientation- High growth ventures (HGVs) which comprise young firms known as gazelles or super start firms have been known to be the biggest contributors towards economic growth. However, these types of firms are rare in developing economies, compared to developed economies. Even though Africa boasts some of the highest numbers of female entrepreneurs in the world at 27%, most of these ventures have little opportunity to grow, and numbers are even lower in high growth ventures as women entrepreneurs are in short supply. Motivation for the study- There is an observation that the rates of women entrepreneurship is low compared to men in South Africa, the rates are even fewer in the high growth start- up space. It has also been argued that because women start-ups are underfunded or struggle to access adequate funding, this has contributed to the low rates. Research purpose- The purpose of the study is to investigate the perceived barriers to accessing funding for women-led technology startups in South Africa. This is due to the fact that funding is a significant factor when it comes to the growth and success of a business. Design/Methodology/Approach- The study was cross sectional and quantitative in nature. A self-administered survey was sent to founders and leaders of women-led tech startups in South Africa. An aggregate of 53 women technology start-up owners or partners of male technology start-ups working in different fields of the technology industry collectively took part in the survey. Validity, reliability, correlation and multiple regression were performed to test the relationship between the variables. Main findings- Aspects that were investigated for the study included networks, bias(investor bias and stereotypes), confidence and access to funding. The results show that although women face these barriers when it comes to accessing funding for their businesses in terms of networks, investor bias and gender stereo types, their influence on access tofunding is however not as strong, nor it is as significant.