Maraba, Mahlatse2024-09-052024-09-052023Maraba, Mahlatse. (2023). Challenges facing small, medium and micro enterprises servicing operational wind farms in the Eastern cape, South Africa [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace.https://hdl.handle.net/10539/40576https://hdl.handle.net/10539/40576A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023Climate change has resulted in a review of how electricity is generated with the focus now being on renewable energy sources. In South Africa, this focus is facilitated by the Renewable Independent Power Producer Program (REIPPPP) which seeks to introduce an energy mix of solar, wind, biomass, and hydro into the traditional coal-dependent systems. REIPPPP promised economic benefits and some of the intended beneficiaries are Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs). The purpose of this study is therefore to understand the challenges facing SMMEs in wind farms that are in the operational phase to understand if they are benefitting from REIPPPP. A qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews to obtain data from respondents offering various services to operational wind farms was employed. A sample size of 9 respondents was used to obtain this data. Applying thematic analysis to the collected data it was found that the challenges facing SMMEs are mainly due to lack of support, lack of finance, human capital, lack of policies and difficulty accessing the job market in the wind farms. All these challenges are as per Isenberg’s domains of entrepreneurship framework (Isenberg, 2010). Further themes that emerged are unfair competition SMMEs face and non-compliance issues by both the SMMEs and the wind farms. Given these challenges, SMMEs were negative towards REIPPPP. There is still a large potential for more renewable energy projects to be implemented in South Africa thus, these challenges must be well understood and addressed going forward for SMMEs to fully benefit. Some of the recommendations are for policies and regulations to be implemented by the government to ensure that SMMEs operate on a level playing field. It is foreseen that by addressing policies as a root cause, the remainder of the challenges can easily be addressed.en© 2023 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.REIPPPPSMMEDomains of Entrepreneurship EcosystemUCTDSDG-7: Affordable and clean energySDG-13: Climate actionSDG-12: Responsible consumption and productionDissertationUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg