Factors Leading to South African Female Entrepreneurs’ Endurance to Remain in Business

ABSTRACT

Entrepreneurship has become a primary driver of economic growth, innovation, and development. This is specifically relevant for developing countries where poverty and high unemployment rates are prevalent. This study’s primary objective focuses on understanding and predicting factors that motivate female entrepreneurs to remain in and ultimately grow their businesses. A quantitative research approach was utilized following a descriptive, single-sample cross-sectional design. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 510 South African female entrepreneurs. The data were analyzed using various statistical methods such as descriptive, correlation, and canonical correlation analyses. The core findings of this study suggest that South African female entrepreneurs’ have fervent intentions not only to remain active entrepreneurs but to pursue business growth with a tenacious attitude toward business success, despite operating in a challenging environment. By ascertaining the various factors contributing to most female entrepreneurs’ choice to remain in business, it may provide an impetus to develop appropriate policies to encourage female empowerment, job creation, and business development. These policies could provide significant assistance that allows females to remain in business and increase their growth potential, leading to more significant economic growth.

KEYWORDS:

• Entrepreneurship
• females
• intention to remain
• growth
• South Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Female/Male TEA Ratio: Percentage of female 18–64 population who are either a nascent entrepreneur or owner-manager of a ‘new business’, divided by the equivalent percentage for their male counterparts.