Incubating entrepreneurship in the South African platinum mining industry.

Abstract

There are various requirements that South African platinum mining companies need to abide by when applying for a mining licence; one of such key requirement is to abide to the South African Mining Charter which has several requirements including procurement from historical disadvantaged South Africans and enterprise developments in and around the areas in which these mines operate. A further serious concern has been the community strikes, with their main concern being unemployment. This study assesses incubating entrepreneurs in the South African platinum mining sector in an effort to address the mining charter requirements. The key success factors in incubating entrepreneurs were utilised as a basis for this research. The study was conducted by utilising semi-structured interviews as a primary method, using entrepreneurs currently in the incubation programme as a basis. The data was collected by in-depth interviews with a convenient sample of owners or chief operating officers of enterprises and analysed, using a thematic data analysis. The research found that some of the key success factors have a significant effect on the incubation programme within the South African platinum mining industry, while others did not. The research also found that the introduction of a mentorship relationship and economic growth have proven to have a significant effect within the context of the study.