Wits Business School (ETDs)

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    Factors influencing women to adopt and sustain entrepreneurship in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Lesejane, Boitumelo; Mazombe, Nomusa
    This study aimed to understand the factors influencing women to adopt and sustain entrepreneurship in South Africa. The current gender salary disparity, high female unemployment rate, and improving yet high female entrepreneurial inactivity ratio and failure rate compared to male counterparts in South Africa are perplexing. Compared to men, women are more likely to experience extended periods of unemployment, reducing their odds of finding employment. In this regard, 80,6% of women experienced long- term unemployment in Q4:2022, compared to 76,1% of males (StatsSA, 2023). Women have generally had a higher long-term unemployment rate than the general population. Given women’s maternal instincts, one would assume that women's active involvement in entrepreneurial endeavours would circumvent the high unemployment rate. However, women's entrepreneurial activity ratio has been seen to be below that of men, despite the efforts by the government to bridge the gap between the two genders. Women face a double-edged sword: high unemployment and low entrepreneurial activity ratios. This study focused on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across various industries in South Africa. To validate the overarching objective of this study, “Factors which influence women to adopt and sustain entrepreneurship”, the study also looked at the factors influencing a small sample of men to adopt and sustain entrepreneurship in South Africa to understand if the factors are at all different. Both male and female business owner perceptions of factors influencing women to start and maintain businesses were also explored
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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.
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    Factors influencing entrepreneurial intentions of women in the South African digital ecosystem
    (2021) Danisa, Nombulelo
    In line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there have been increasing calls in support of female entrepreneurship in Sub Saharan Africa. The entrepreneurial gender disparity against women in South Africa is a cause for concern considering the important role of female entrepreneurs in the economy. Potential female entrepreneurs face challenges and hostile environments that discourage entrepreneurial spirit. However, with the advent of the digital ecosystem, it is hoped that these institutional barriers would be overcome. Thus, an investigation on the influence of institutional factors and the digital environment on entrepreneurial intentions of women is imperative. Utilising the Theory of Planned Behaviour within an institutional embedded perspective, a model for the digital economy was inferred to analyse factors affecting female entrepreneurial intention in the South African digital ecosystem. This quantitative study utilised cross sectional data collected for a final sample of 302 females across South Africa. Results reflected that entrepreneurial intentions of women are positively influenced by favourable perceptions of the cognitive and normative institutional dimensions. However, the regulatory dimension had a positive but insignificant influence with no evidence that the digital environment interacts with the institutional environment to influence entrepreneurial intentions. Therefore, it is recommended that government and policy makers play a leading role in promoting a culture that values female entrepreneurship. This would assist in creating favourable perceptions of the institutional environment and in turn encourage aspiring female entrepreneurs to start their own business.
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    Factors influencing entrepreneurial intentions of women in the South African digital ecosystem
    (2021) Danisa, Nombulelo
    In line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there have been increasing calls in support of female entrepreneurship in Sub Saharan Africa. The entrepreneurial gender disparity against women in South Africa is a cause for concern considering the important role of female entrepreneurs in the economy. Potential female entrepreneurs face challenges and hostile environments that discourage entrepreneurial spirit. However, with the advent of the digital ecosystem, it is hoped that these institutional barriers would be overcome. Thus, an investigation on the influence of institutional factors and the digital environment on entrepreneurial intentions of women is imperative. Utilising the Theory of Planned Behaviour within an institutional embedded perspective, a model for the digital economy was inferred to analyse factors affecting female entrepreneurial intention in the South African digital ecosystem. This quantitative study utilised cross sectional data collected for a final sample of 302 females across South Africa. Results reflected that entrepreneurial intentions of women are positively influenced by favourable perceptions of the cognitive and normative institutional dimensions. However, the regulatory dimension had a positive but insignificant influence with no evidence that the digital environment interacts with the institutional environment to influence entrepreneurial intentions. Therefore, it is recommended that government and policy makers play a leading role in promoting a culture that values female entrepreneurship. This would assist in creating favourable perceptions of the institutional environment and in turn encourage aspiring female entrepreneurs to start their own business