Women In Action: Challenges Facing Women Entrepreneurs In The Gauteng Province Of South Africa

In today’s post-modern era, the role of women entrepreneurs in economic development is inevitable and women are willing to take action in business and contribute to the nation’s growth. Women are stepping up to own and run businesses in numbers that would have been hard to imagine a mere few decades ago. However, women entrepreneurs face a wide variety of challenges both in starting and in growing their business ventures. The objective of this paper is to investigate the challenges women entrepreneurs face in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Exploring the challenges that women entrepreneurs face in South Africa, is of paramount interest to potential women entrepreneurs, researchers, the government of South Africa and other stakeholders. The paper used a qualitative research design using in-depth interviews and focus groups. The findings were that the challenges were identified as impediments to women entrepreneurs, which comprises lack of education and training, lack of access to finance, gender discrimination, negative attitudes and inadequate resources. Recommendations were made to women entrepreneurs, to the government of South Africa and other stakeholders. Lastly, limitations of this paper as well as future research directions were enunciated clearly.

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