Female but flourishing: SA women entrepreneurs gaining ground

Despite the rampant struggles of South African women, especially when it comes to economic exclusion, the country is on a positive trajectory towards greater gender equality in small businesses.

According to Betty Dube, executive head of marketing at MiWay, entrepreneurship has taken great strides toward building a more equitable business environment for women.

“The prevailing inequalities were most recently brought to light by well-documented findings that women business owners were impacted more materially by Covid than their male counterparts,” Dube said.

“The key to solving this lies in creating a more enabling environment for women operating in the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) sector.”

Based on the latest Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs Index (MIWE), SA’s rankings have improved in the past year, both in terms of the cultural perceptions of female entrepreneurs and their competitiveness.

“SA also performed relatively well in terms of the progress women have made, despite a degree of marginalisation as business leaders, professionals, entrepreneurs and labour force participants,” Dube said.

“It’s important that we recognise these areas of improvement, while also honing in on formulating practical solutions to the hurdles that need to be overcome.

“Women need to be encouraged to make valuable connections and interface with the people who have realised their business goals and can provide guidance.”

Small business owner Lerato Mononyane said lack of support for black female entrepreneurs was the biggest challenge.

“That’s the hardest part. We need more support – not only from government but communities as well.”

She said despite the strides SA has made, female-owned businesses still face unequal challenges when it comes to securing business financing and investments.

“But we are still soaring through it all. In the coming year, we will see a bunch of female entrepreneurs who will definitely lend a hand to the next generation,” Mononyane said.

Owner of Maledi Fresh Gloria Ramahlodi is one entrepreneur who has thrived in the face of adversity within the male-dominated farming industry.

When the Covid pandemic hit and fresh produce was the cornerstone of good health, Ramahlodi teamed up with courier companies and started delivering to families, doubling her sales.

Ramahlodi admitted it was initially daunting.

“Everyone told me how complicated organic farming is.

“I was worried that I wouldn’t pass my audit, so I postponed it several times – but eventually I told myself, just do it,” she said.

“If you fail, it will be a learning curve: you’ll know what you need to fix.”