This study was undertaken to explore the barriers to the sustainability of the spaza shops in Atteridgeville (wards, 51, 62, 63, 68, 71 and 72) and to identify the support strategies necessary to assist these shops to grow into sustainable businesses. The study was motivated by the role and contributions of these stores in creating jobs for the majority of the previously disadvantaged people, particularly in the black township areas of South Africa. The study was exploratory, descriptive and qualitative in nature. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain data from 18 spaza shop owners. The findings from the research indicated the following barriers to be responsible for the failure of the spaza shops: lack of financial support, lack of business management skills, expensive transportation, limited trading space, crime, negative competition among spaza shop owners, and lack of cooperatives among spaza shop owners. The study recommends that spaza shop owners should ensure that they have enough savings before embarking on business and that they should also attend training in business management to equip themselves. Spaza shop owners also need to establish collaborative ventures among themselves to enable them to voice their concerns as a collective, rather than as individuals. Government, in partnership with private sector, should improve the effectiveness of its support strategies, for example by assisting spaza shops in forming cooperatives and facilitating training in business skills. It is also recommended that the government, through the Department of Trade and Industry, should continue to find out better ways to aid these stores financially. It is the researcher’s opinion that if these recommendations are followed, they could lead to the success of these stores. / Development Studies / M. A. (Development Studies)

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2003 / Refer to document

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2002. / Refer to the document

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2018 / The aim of this study is to investigate and assess the effectiveness of Greater Tzaneen Municipality in implementing LED strategies in rural communities. Although the concept of Local Economic Development has been studied and widely debated in South Africa, the present study intends to determine the extent to which the implementation of LED strategy by Greater Tzaneen Municipality contributes towards improving the livelihood of communities for sustainable local economic development. In other words, the study purports to develop a more holistic understanding of the dynamics of local economic development efforts. This is a mixed method study in which elements of qualitative and quantitative approaches to collect, analyze, validate and interpret data were used. Quantitative design was used to profile respondents and do some statistical analysis of the population. The quantitative design used was in the form of a semi-structured survey questionnaire to acquire statistical data. Since the study is heterogeneous, stratified random sampling was used for the quantitative design whereby ward councillors, ward committees, project leaders and community stakeholders (n= 60) participated. For the qualitative aspect of the study face-to-face interviews schedule was used in order to construct the reality from the interviewees‟ world and to gain more in-depth dynamics and complexities by virtue of being the more natural form of interaction with respondents. Key municipal officials directly involved in LED and those who have more knowledge and information concerning LED implementation were identified by means of purposive sampling technique (n=10). The findings revealed that even though Greater Tzaneen Municipality on average is on the implementation side, there are some factors that hinder it from achieving the 100% LED strategy implementation. Even though policies are in place, it appears like LED strategies have produced very few success stories for various reasons country wide which among others includes lack of capacity within municipalities, financial constraints and poor and incorrect implementation. The other challenge is that communities regard LED as employment creation by municipalities and should not be viewed only as creating economic benefits, but as playing a vital role in poverty alleviation and therefore should have a strong social focus. As per the constitutional mandate Section 152 (1), (2) and Section 153 LED should be an integral part in the planning activities of municipalities across departments and not be afterthought. The process should clearly reflect participation by all wards and their respective communities, local economic growth, poverty alleviation and job creation as well as prioritizing human development initiatives.

Thesis (M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / The main focus of this study was to investigate the contribution made by SMMEs towards local economic development (LED) in Mankweng Township. To this end, specific working objectives were formulated as follows: to study the nature of SMMEs, to identify the challenges they face, to analyse the theory of local economic development and lastly, to study the role of SMMEs in local economic development. A variety of data collection methods were used in this study such as literature review, semi-structured questionnaires and observations. The study revealed that SMMEs represent a vital component of the local economic development process in Mankweng Township, and their contributions in terms of employment, income and poverty reduction is well acknowledged. However, SMMEs are constrained by a number of challenges such as lack of access to appropriate technology, limited access to markets, government regulations, lack of management skills and training, all of which hamper their development. Lack of access to finance remains the utmost constraint for most of SMMEs. In an attempt to enable the SMMEs sector to perform effectively and efficiently, a number of support initiatives were introduced by the South African government. This ranged from government institutions, private sectors, parastatals and NGOs. Conversely, access to these support initiatives remains a challenge for most entrepreneurs, as most of the SMMEs in Mankweng Township operate within the informal sector and they lack awareness of the support initiatives and structures provided by these institutions.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA), Business Studies Unit--Durban University of Technology, 2008 / The ability of the South African Small Medium Enterprise Development Programme to promote economic growth and employment. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) offers the Small Medium Enterprise Development Programme (SMEDP) incentive grant programme to qualifying manufacturers in South Africa. The status of the progress of this incentive grant programme is unknown. The DTI alluded to an impact study in the 2004 DTI Annual Report but no further reference or publication of results of the impact study has been made. The objectives of the study are to investigate the following three criteria of the SMEDP and to develop benchmarks and recommendations for future incentive grants offered by the DTI. • Rationale for implementation of SMEDP; • Exploration of SMEDP merits; and • Measure of SMEDP success. The study is a secondary analysis design with both qualitative and quantitative components. The qualitative component allows the researcher to reflect on the process by which the incentive programme under investigation came into being, whilst the quantitative component allows for comment on the result of the process as per the markers developed in the qualitative component of the design. There were 152 sample cases used in the study. The outcome measures are the output measures stated in the Medium Term Strategic Plan which are: • The number of jobs sustained. v i • The number of jobs created. • The number of Greenfield’s projects supported. • The fixed investment in Rand terms. • The improvement in employment levels. The DTI achieved certain of the stated objectives. The empirical data analysed confirms the achievement of these objectives. There is scope for further empirical investigation for the future development of incentive grants. The contribution of the SMEDP to economic growth and employment growth is evident and such government interventions should be continued. The recommendations from the study include further investigation into the following areas to improve the benefits provided by manufacturing incentive programmes: • Limit the incentive to a specified Rand value per job created; • Volume driven turnover growth not price driven turnover growth; • The continued inclusion of expansions in future programme; and • Specified sector programmes i.e. textile sector.

A number of development strategies and programmes are currently being explored in South Africa as a part of a renewed ihitiative to overcome the imbalances persisting from the apartheid era with respect to development, wealth, income and opportunity, and in order to address problems increasing unemployment brought on by the decline of traditional employment sectors. Local Economic Development (LED) is one such strategy that seeks to utilize local resources and skills in order to promote economic growth and create employment opportunities. Similarly, tourism, which has become one of the most critical forces shaping the world's economy, has been recognised as a potential growth alternative in South Africa, and is being increasingly implemented into LED strategies across the country. Although the studies that have identified the link between tourism and LED are increasing, it is clear that research on the topic remains limited. This research therefore contributes to the existing literature, and investigates how three localities in Kwazulu-Natal have identified the tourism potential of the locally available natural resources, and how different actors have embarked on tourism-based projects that have sought to achieve LED. A series of semi-structured interviews formed the principle research method and information was obtained over a period of a year from a number of key stakeholders and role-players in each case study. It was found that all three case studies have created employment opportunities and have empowered local communities through skills development and training. This research attempts to highlight the potential opportunities and limitations of the pursuit of natural resource-based tourism as a catalyst for local economic development, such that other localities that are seeking to adopt a similar approach may learn from these experiences. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, 2003.

It is frequently claimed that the role of government, especially that at the local level, is to facilitate the creation and sustainability of a conducive environment in which business may flourish. Indeed, in the National Framework for Local Economic Development, municipalities are urged to promote the conditions in which business enterprises may flourish, economic equitability may be achieved and jobs will be created. (DPLG, 2006) When the exact nature of a conducive environment is considered, however, there is little clarity as to the elements that contribute towards such an environment. In various endeavours to define the desirable elements of a conducive or enabling business environment, agencies, among them the World Bank, have commissioned or produced reports on this subject. In most cases, however, it is a regulatory arena that has been given attention, and this often at the national rather than local level. The primary concern of this study is not a regulatory framework, which in South Africa is only mildly influenced by local government, but the ways in which municipalities create or inhibit hospitable conditions for business through policies and strategies which often appear to be devoid of understanding as to how business operates and what it requires to flourish. The researcher's experience as the manager of a chamber of commerce over fourteen years during which he has engaged with local businesses and their difficulties and successes, has provided a sense of what the factors are that, particularly, inhibit business growth. Respondents, which are companies of all sizes and types within chambers of commerce in various parts of the country, were asked to assess the extent to which these factors inhibit or promote business. They were also asked to add any others that had not been listed already. The suggested elements fall into various categories ranging from the delivery of municipal services in various spheres to assessments of the skills capacity of local communities. It was expected that the responses would enable the researcher to describe more accurately what constitutes a conducive environment in the experience of business enterprises. The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) was interested in, and sanctioned, this research which, it is believed could be expanded later into the development of a Hospitability Index by which municipalities may benchmark their establishment and maintenance of an environment conducive to business. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

The aim of this study is to determine the extent to which the UN/OSCAL (United Nations Office of the Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Development Countries) model of microfinance is being applied in the South African context, its scope for application and recommendations for implementation. The hypothesis is that, the better South African microfinance initiatives conform to the model, the more successful it will be in fulfilling the ultimate mission of microfinance which is to supply financial services to the poor by cutting the cost of outreach with beneficial effects on poverty..

This thesis examines the way in which Business Day portrayed the neo-liberal logic of the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy as both common sense and natural. It utilises framing analysis, adapting its application to the context of media studies as the guiding theoretical framework in trying to understand how Business Day, as representative of the mainstream financial media, frame economic policy issues. Using content analysis, the thesis examines how elite sources are the preferred news sources above ordinary citizens and are thus in a position to shape news content in line with their neo-liberal views on the economy. The thesis analyses how Business Day, by means of the globalisation frame and other frames, legitimated and in the process perpetuated the GEAR strategy as the macroeconomic policy of choice for South Africa in 1996 against the background of the country’s political transformation and economic policy development in preceding years.