Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) are often perceived as the backbone
of an economy. There is widespread consensus on their significant contribution to
economic growth, employment creation, poverty alleviation and local and regional
development.
In South Africa, a lack of access to funding, especially to the Previously
Disadvantaged Individuals (PDIs), often hinders small businesses from developing
their full potential. Funding limitation of SMMEs is mainly due to the high risk
attributed to small businesses and their lack of collateral. The fact that SMMEs
often receive inadequate financial support or the total lack of it puts them at a
competitive disadvantage and tend to harm their long-term growth and
development, a waste of entrepreneurial resources and edge, a reduction of
productivity and a lower economic growth rate. Restricted access to funding is one
of the main problems faced by tourism-related SMMEs in the North West Province,
and can ultimately have an adverse effect on economic growth and overall welfare of
the people.
This research study presents a sociological evaluation of SMME access and
participation in the North West Province, South Africa, tourism industry. The study
appeals to an outcome-based evaluation approach of measuring and assessing the
degrees and levels to which tourism SMMEs, since the all-inclusive 1994
democratic elections in South Africa, have benefitted . or otherwise from the
provincial tourism industry.
The study reveals that, ten years after the fall of apartheid, black entrepreneurs'
access and participation in the provincial tourism industry, is still limited due to
stringent qualification criteria that serve as barriers to accessing financial and
developmental support needed to enhance and fast-track meaningful participation
in the tourism industry, particularly in the North West Province.
The virtual failure to help small business entrepreneurs creates a great controversy
about their very existence and effectiveness of such financial institutions with the
task of helping up-and-coming black entrepreneurs. This thesis stresses the need
for comprehensive evaluation of such institutions so that their existence would have
a meaning, more importantly to the PDIS within the tourism industry. The
criticisms levelled against these financial support institutions are extensively
explored in this study.
In conclusion, the study recommends that, in order to make use of the full potential
of small business entrepreneurs in the provincial tourism industry, thereby
participating meaningfully in the industry, there is the need to provide them with
an enabling environment, which encompasses the access to capital and relaxation
of the set qualification criteria for financial support. / (M.Soc.Sc.) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2005
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/11282 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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