Opportunity magazine is a niche business-to-business publication that explores various investment opportunities within Southern Africa’s economic sectors. The publication is endorsed by the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI).
Why women-led businesses
Why women-led businesses will play a crucial role in South Africa’s economic recovery Gugu Mjadu, Executive General Manager for Business Partners Limited, sees a link between encouraging female entrepreneurship and economic growth. The outbreak of Covid-19 disproportionately affected women, leading to what is now being referred to by some as a “shecession”. This finding, supported by the South African Women Entrepreneurs Job Creators Survey (conducted by the network Lionesses of Africa), has put the spotlight on women-led businesses and their set of unique challenges. Despite what appear to be grim prospects, women entrepreneurs have an optimistic outlook on the future and expect to increase their revenue, create more jobs and recover from the effects of many tumultuous months. Gugu Mjadu, Executive General Manager for Business Partners Limited, believes that both the public and private sector still have much work to do to encourage female entrepreneurship in the country. “Doing so will go a long way towards alleviating the country’s current unemployment crisis.” The Job Creators Survey found that 76% of female respondents expected to increase their revenues, with the vast majority expecting to recover from the effects of the pandemic within two years. As South Africa shows improvement in terms of the growth in women’s entrepreneurial activity, according to the latest Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE) findings, progress, albeit slow, is being made towards promoting change and gender equality in this male-dominated arena. “Empowering women to succeed in business is an objective that we take very seriously and encourage other institutions to do the same. Over the last five years, between 33% and 42% of business finance approved annually by Business Partners Limited has gone to female-owned businesses. We set targets for our investment teams which they are measured against on an annual basis and strive to improve on each year. Not only have we found that women make effective leaders and consistent employers, but financial trends have shown that women entrepreneurs are reliable as a group when it comes to maintaining good credit with lenders,” explains Mjadu. 26 | www.opportunityonline.co.za
WOMEN IN BUSINESS According to the MIWE report, South Africa has also seen an increase in support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which includes the availability of finance, training and development programmes aimed at and designed for women. In addition, research shows that Sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s highest rate of women entrepreneurs. “This is an encouraging and welcomed trend that will put women at the forefront of a working solution towards better employment prospects for South Africa,” comments Mjadu. The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on women were exacerbated by the fact that women-led businesses were found to generate less business than their men-led counterparts. Furthermore, it can be said that while many Sub-Saharan African women have the desire to be self-employed and build their own businesses, their entrepreneurial efforts may be rooted in basic necessity. Characteristically, women are the primary caregivers of children and the elderly, as well as maintainers of the household. The Credit: Christina Morilo on Pexels work-from-home scenario further exacerbated the pressure on many women. Therefore, starting and growing a business that is flexible and allows women to earn an income to support their families, while attending to their responsibilities, is an ideal solution. “The urgency with which South Africa as a collective must support women-led ventures is rooted in a deep-seated need to challenge existing gender roles, empower women and advocate for gender equality. It just makes economic sense to support female business owners as women account for 51.2% of South Africa’s population; the cost of ignoring this untapped potential is too dire to contemplate for our country and its struggling economy.” Mjadu explains, “There is a bigger picture that we’re trying to promote, beyond the support of female entrepreneurship as a _________________ Women business owners are prospective employers for themselves, their family and their communities ________________ solution to the unemployment crisis in South Africa. We advocate for this position because once we see the growth of womenowned business, we will see a societal shift towards respecting women in leadership positions and understanding that their unique experiences and resources are invaluable to the business world. Research shows us that children model their mothers, so this will also influence more young people (both boys and girls) to consider entrepreneurship, thus increasing the potential for future entrepreneurial activity in South Africa. Gender equality is as much of a social imperative as it is a business one, and we encourage South African institutions, particularly business financiers, to consider this viewpoint.” The spotlight regularly falls on women in the month of August and female entrepreneurship occupies a considerable amount of space in public discourse and for good reason. “Women business owners are prospective employers for themselves, their family and their communities. We’ve seen a number of reports substantiating the claim that women intend to hire to meet increased demand and to bring essential skills into their business. The years of the pandemic and associated lockdowns were challenging for women in business. However, we believe that South Africa will prove to be a burgeoning birthplace of potential for aspiring female entrepreneurs and the leaders of our future, but only if we provide them with the necessary support and opportunities,” says Mjadu. Gugu Mjadu, Business Partners ABOUT BUSINESS PARTNERS LTD Business Partners Limited (Business Partners Ltd) is a specialist risk finance company for formal small and medium owner-managed businesses in South Africa and selected African countries. The company actively supports entrepreneurial growth by providing financing from R500 000 to R50-million, specialist sectoral knowledge, business premises and added-value services for viable small and medium businesses. Since establishment in 1981, Business Partners Ltd has provided business finance worth over R21.5-billion in over 72 000 transactions facilitating over 671 000 jobs. Business Partners Ltd was named the 2019 Gold winner in the SME Bank of the Year – Africa category at the Global SME Finance Awards. Visit www.businesspartners.co.za for more information.
