Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, 2016. / The primary aim of the microfinance initiative is to eradicate poverty especially in developing countries. This is possible through the provision of micro-loans, microsavings and insurance to previously disadvantaged communities. Entrepreneurship is the role that individuals undertake to create, an organization, product from an idea to implementation. With high unemployment and poverty levels, Swaziland is engaging the Microfinance Institutions and entrepreneurship to help drive employment, and poverty alleviation. The study assessed several issues: Does microfinance contribute to Improvements in the economic welfare of borrowers’ households, enterprise growth, diversification or stability? Do entrepreneur development programs; like training workshops have an impact on participant’s attitude and behavior in conducting entrepreneurship activities. Is there a relationship between microfinance institution growth and entrepreneurship development? Results indicated that microfinance institutions were still sorely focusing on providing credit and credit facilities, which meant that it had positive effects on capital assets but not the overall welfare of entrepreneurs. The behaviors that programs influenced were also in relation to credit, and not other aspects of entrepreneurship like innovation and technology. This meant that there’s a gap in the effect of microfinance institutions on entrepreneurship growth as indicated chisquare was significant at 9.43 indicating no effect on the sampled population. Therefore it is important that Microfinance institutions focus on the primary objective of developmental finance. They need to prioritize training programs that will cultivate a culture of building sound businesses, with proper risk management, and are willing to adapt to change. As currently the key focus seems to be on credit facilitation which could be profit driven? / GR2018

M. Com. (Marketing) in the School of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg / The government of Swaziland has labelled the tourism industry as one of the national priority sectors that has maximum potential to stimulate economic growth through the creation of employment opportunities, poverty alleviation, and foreign income generation. The industry has birthed several supporting business areas such as tour operators, travel agencies, a new airport, and hotels and restaurants. Tourism scholars and practitioners acknowledge the importance of the destination‘s image as an influence on tourist behaviour. However, existing studies on Swaziland‘s tourism industry have focused on the development of the tourism industry, community-based tourism, outdoor recreation activities in game reserves, and the economic impact of tourism in Swaziland. As a result, there is limited research focusing on the perceptions of both local and international tourists regarding Swaziland as a tourist destination and how the destination image has influenced tourists‘ intention to revisit or recommend the destination to others. This study aims to identify the antecedents of future behavioural intentions of tourists in Swaziland. Employing a quantitative approach, destination image was the predictor variable and was hypothesized to positively influence satisfaction, attitude toward destination, and trust in the destination as mediating variables, and behavioural intentions as the outcome variable. Non-probability was used to sample both local and international tourists that visited Swaziland between the months of August and October 2016. Tourists were interviewed at Mantenga Cultural Village, Swazi Candles, Ngwenya Glass, and departing tourists were interviewed at the Sikhuphe International Airport. A total of 431 respondents were used in study. The data analysis was performed using SPSS 22 and Amos 22 Software Package. The majority of tourists were positive regarding Swaziland as a tourist destination. Tourists further on indicated that they had satisfactory experiences in Swaziland, and most stated that they trusted the destination. A lot of the tourists had a favourable attitude towards Swaziland and indicated high revisit intentions and positive recommendations. Furthermore, the findings in this study show that there is a positive and significant relationship between the destination‘s image and satisfaction. Additionally, the study reveals that satisfaction positively influences tourists‘ trust in the destination and their attitude towards the destination. Between attitude towards destination and trust in the destination, tourists‘ attitudes toward the destination were found to have a stronger effect on their behavioural intentions. / MT2017