Worldwide, entrepreneurship is seen as one of the most important solutions to unemployment, poverty and low economic growth. The creation of new ventures and the growth of existing businesses are vital contributing factors to any economy. Women outnumber male entrepreneurs, which have led to a renewed focus on gender entrepreneurship and the development of appropriate interventions for gender–specific groups across the globe. In South Africa, women make up just less than 50% of the entrepreneurial population. There is therefore, considerable scope to improve the number of women entrepreneurs in the economy and the level at which they operate. Literature review in this study highlighted that female business ownership is concentrated primarily in the service industries where businesses are relatively smaller in terms of employment and revenue, as opposed to the technology, construction and manufacturing sectors. Women entrepreneurs want to expand their businesses as much as male entrepreneurs but women have a hard time in obtaining external financing and credibility as business owners. The objective of the study was to explore white and black women entrepreneurs in the Carletonville and Soweto areas and to provide practical recommendations to ensure successful women entrepreneurship in the country. This study had a total of 58 black and white women entrepreneurs that were motivated by factors like the need for independence, confidence in the product/service offered, self– fulfillment and the need for a challenge into owning a business. A typical woman entrepreneur in this study is between the ages 40 to 59 years, is married with an average of one to two children. The woman entrepreneur is fairly educated with an education level of matric and a diploma. But her business is micro or very small with an annual turnover of R50 000 to R500 000. Participating women entrepreneurs are faced with obstacles such as inequality of access to credit, awareness and access to business support, risk averse, lack of focused women entrepreneurship policies from regional municipalities and government, lack of education and training in their business start–up phase. They are faced with obstacles such as awareness / access to business support, gaining acceptance and respect of people, liquidity and other financial problems and lack of timely business information in running their businesses. Women entrepreneurs in this study declared that they need support on factors such as business advice, information, counselling, mentoring, marketing support and women entrepreneurship specific based policies to enhance women entrepreneurship in the areas of Soweto and Carletonville. The study also conducted t–tests to compare white and black women entrepreneurs in the Carletonville and Soweto areas. The t–tests focused on motivational factors to self– employment, obstacles to business start–up and obstacles faced in current business operations. The t–test in this study revealed that black women entrepreneurs rated the following motivating factors: desire to wealth, the need for independence, need for flexible work schedule, need for a challenge, self–fulfillment, to develop my hobby, insufficient family income and ensure high job security more positively than the white women entrepreneurs. In addition, the t–tests also revealed that black women entrepreneurs are affected more than the white entrepreneurs by fear of failure and their perceived inequality of access to credit in their business start–up. Furthermore, black women entrepreneurs, in running their businesses are severely affected by family pressures in relation to gender roles and a lack of awareness of or access to business support more than the white women entrepreneurs. This study offered recommendations such as exposing women in entrepreneurship at a tender age, increasing access to finance and the establishment and enhancement of women entrepreneurs’ organisations like SAWEN, BWASA, and SAWIMA amongst others. The women entrepreneurs’ organisations should embark on campaigns and intensify their marketing strategies amongst others. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

This research examines the mediation effects of prior experience, access to finance, government regulation, and workforce skills on entrepreneurial gender and corporate innovation in China. The aim is to study the factors that influence innovation decisions of women entrepreneurs and to promote corporate innovation in women-owned enterprises in developing countries like China. The data of this research comes from China Enterprise Survey conducted by World Bank in 2012. The findings revealed that prior experience, government regulation, and workforce skills have significant individual mediation effect on the relationship between entrepreneurial gender and corporate innovation. Also, prior experience, access to finance, government regulation, and workforce skills together played a significant overall mediating effect on corporate innovation in women-owned enterprises. The results of this study will provide important insights to women owners of enterprises, policy makers, and researchers to further understand the influence of prior experience, access to finance, government regulations, and workforce skills on corporate innovation in China and other emerging countries.

<p>Financial sector development can reduce poverty and promote economic growth by extending access to financial services in developing countries. Traditionally, banking in Sub-Saharan Africa has been conducted by state-owned banks. Although, evidence has shown that severe government involvement in the banking sector has proved to cause low profitability and inefficiency. During 2001, Uganda Commercial Bank, the dominant provider of banking experienced financial problems; as a result, the government had to privatize the bank. The aim of this thesis is therefore to investigate if the privatization prevented the banking sector from collapse and if it made the sector more competitive and outreaching. The main conclusion is that the privatization strongly prevented the banking sector from collapse. Since privatization, competition has increased sufficiently in urban areas of Uganda while rural areas have not experienced any significant increase in competition. Finally, we conclude that the outreach of banking has increased somewhat since the privatization, but it is still relatively poor.</p>

Financial sector development can reduce poverty and promote economic growth by extending access to financial services in developing countries. Traditionally, banking in Sub-Saharan Africa has been conducted by state-owned banks. Although, evidence has shown that severe government involvement in the banking sector has proved to cause low profitability and inefficiency. During 2001, Uganda Commercial Bank, the dominant provider of banking experienced financial problems; as a result, the government had to privatize the bank. The aim of this thesis is therefore to investigate if the privatization prevented the banking sector from collapse and if it made the sector more competitive and outreaching. The main conclusion is that the privatization strongly prevented the banking sector from collapse. Since privatization, competition has increased sufficiently in urban areas of Uganda while rural areas have not experienced any significant increase in competition. Finally, we conclude that the outreach of banking has increased somewhat since the privatization, but it is still relatively poor.

This study sought to examine whether the use of tax incentives to boost investment into the SME sector is an effective policy for economic development. More specifically, the study focused on the Section 12J tax incentive of the Income Tax Act of South Africa, which underpins the current venture capital companies' (VCC) regime for this country. This VCC regime is aimed at addressing the challenge of lack of access to finance by SMEs, and it does so by incentivising venture capital investors to provide equity capital to qualifying SMEs. These SMEs are, in turn, expected to grow and help reduce the economic challenges of poverty and unemployment in South Africa. A mixed methods research approach was adopted for this study. It was also inductive in nature, based on primary data collected from a survey of various stakeholders of the VCC regime using a convenience sampling method. The data variables of the study were based on factors relating to the impact that the VCC regime has had on SMEs in terms of financial performance and creation of decent employment. The study concludes that the VCC regime has had a positive impact on the South African SME sector in terms of financial performance and creation of decent employment. As a result, the VCC regime has shown to be an effective tool for addressing various economic challenges, such as: lack of access to finance faced by SMEs, high failure rate of SME businesses, and poverty alleviation through provision of decent employment by SMEs. Thus, the resultant recommendation submitted in the study is that the VCC regime should as such be extended beyond its current sunset date in order to ensure the South African economy continues to enjoy the benefits that the regime has to offer.

SMEs can play a significant role in the economy as drivers of economic growth and job creation. Many SMEs are, however constrained by their limited access to finance. This study examines the source of finance of firms in South Africa and estimates the importance of finance as a predictor of output per worker. Using the 2007 World Bank Enterprise Survey, the study focuses on the firm’s access to finance, or sources of finance, as a predictor of the productivity of South African firms. Other factors that are taken into account include sources of finance such as the overdraft of the firm, collateral available and the type of financial institution used to acquire financing. These covariates all play an integral role in whether or not the firm will receive the financing, the amount granted and the repayment terms. Empirical analysis is done with a Cobb–Douglas production function regression to determine how output per worker is influenced by various factors. The results show that output per worker improves as additional finance variables are added to the regression model. Using an access to finance dummy as the dependent variable, a logistic regression model is used to calculate the probability of access to finance as a constraint based on the independent variables. The results of the logistic regression show that the probability of firms’ experiencing access to finance as a constraint is decreased by variables such as fixed assets and increase with negative factors such existing debt and collateral. These results are expected based on previous research on the topic and confirms that access and finance sources are determinants for firm growth. Recommendations include more extensive research on the topic, with panel data over a longer period and specific to a country. Policy recommendations include amended evaluation techniques, adapted to the individual firm’s requirements and strengths. / Thesis (M.Com. (Economics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

SMEs can play a significant role in the economy as drivers of economic growth and job creation. Many SMEs are, however constrained by their limited access to finance. This study examines the source of finance of firms in South Africa and estimates the importance of finance as a predictor of output per worker. Using the 2007 World Bank Enterprise Survey, the study focuses on the firm’s access to finance, or sources of finance, as a predictor of the productivity of South African firms. Other factors that are taken into account include sources of finance such as the overdraft of the firm, collateral available and the type of financial institution used to acquire financing. These covariates all play an integral role in whether or not the firm will receive the financing, the amount granted and the repayment terms. Empirical analysis is done with a Cobb–Douglas production function regression to determine how output per worker is influenced by various factors. The results show that output per worker improves as additional finance variables are added to the regression model. Using an access to finance dummy as the dependent variable, a logistic regression model is used to calculate the probability of access to finance as a constraint based on the independent variables. The results of the logistic regression show that the probability of firms’ experiencing access to finance as a constraint is decreased by variables such as fixed assets and increase with negative factors such existing debt and collateral. These results are expected based on previous research on the topic and confirms that access and finance sources are determinants for firm growth. Recommendations include more extensive research on the topic, with panel data over a longer period and specific to a country. Policy recommendations include amended evaluation techniques, adapted to the individual firm’s requirements and strengths. / Thesis (M.Com. (Economics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Submitted by Bruno Rodrigues Camargo (brunorodriguescamargo@gmail.com) on 2018-07-18T14:56:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis_BRUNO_CAMARGO_final.pdf: 1776056 bytes, checksum: 4b6f4750984666be7fb977f4384bb228 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by ÁUREA CORRÊA DA FONSECA CORRÊA DA FONSECA (aurea.fonseca@fgv.br) on 2018-07-24T21:02:27Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis_BRUNO_CAMARGO_final.pdf: 1776056 bytes, checksum: 4b6f4750984666be7fb977f4384bb228 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-27T18:44:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis_BRUNO_CAMARGO_final.pdf: 1776056 bytes, checksum: 4b6f4750984666be7fb977f4384bb228 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-06-28 / In this thesis I empirically investigate the role of non-price related search frictions in the access to finance by firms. The focus is on the relationship between these factors and how their variation in time can affect access to finance. The study uses a rich dataset of small, medium and large firms from 109 countries, mostly of them emerging economies, and of country related search friction indicators. Results show that banking outreach indicators and informational infrastructure are strongly associated with access to finance. The percentage of internet users and its variation are the most relevant of the informational variables, especially for small and medium enterprises. For large firms, the changes in fixed phone subscriptions and in the proportion of branches by population are the most relevant frictions. Results shed light on the already identifiable role of internet on financial inclusion of SMEs, and on the difference search frictions make in the access to finance depending on firm’s size. / Esta dissertação investiga empiricamente o papel das fricções de busca não relacionadas a preços no acesso a financiamento por empresas. O foco está na relação entre elas, bem como no efeito das mudanças nesses indicadores nos níveis de acesso a financiamento. O estudo usa um rico conjunto de dados de pequenas, médias e grandes empresas de 109 países, a maioria países em desenvolvimento, e de indicadores de fricção de busca por país. Os resultados mostram que os indicadores de alcance bancário e de infraestrutura informacional estão fortemente associados ao acesso a financiamento. A porcentagem de usuários da internet e a sua variação são as mais relevantes dentre as variáveis informacionais, especialmente para pequenas e médias empresas. Para as grandes empresas, as variações no número de assinaturas de telefonia fixa e na proporção de agências bancárias pela população são mais relevantes. Os resultados esclarecem o papel já identificável da internet na inclusão financeira de PMEs e a diferença que as fricções de busca fazem no acesso a financiamento dependendo do tamanho da empresa.

By using the cross-sectional data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey, this dissertation selects a sample of over 3000 firms from 16 Central and Eastern European countries during the 2008 financial crisis, to assess (1) How effective priori classifications are to identify financially constrained and unconstrained firms in times of economic recession (2) What the main robust determinants are at the firm and country-level that affect SMEs' degree of financing obstacles (3) What experiences and lessons we can learn from 2008 crisis to combat with 2020 and future emerging recession. Our evidence indicates that during the economic crisis happened in 2008, size, industry, ownership and EU dummy are useful priori classifications while distinguishing firms' different degree to financing troubles, although some of other priori classifications appeared on other literature are ineffective. Smaller firms, foreign-owned and firms in manufacturing are more likely to report the financing trouble and have less access to formal sources of finance. However, government-owned firms and firms with adequate educated workers are less likely to be financially constraint. The result confirms that economic freedom, financial market and trade integration all have a significant relationship with SMEs' access to finance. For...

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