he state of entrepreneurship in South Africa is not a healthy one. In spite of this being the official version, it comes as a surprise for a country with high levels of unemployment, in which there is an urgent need for entrepreneurs in the small, micro, and medium enterprise (SMME) sector to act as catalysts for addressing joblessness, crime and stimulatingthe economy.

In fact the country's Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) index, which measures the percentage of individuals aged between 18 and 64 who are engaged
in starting a new business, is fairly low on scale, according to Mike Herrington, Director of the UCT Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) at the Graduate School of Business.

He says reasons for this sad stale of affairs include education and training (particularly levels of science and mathematics, which are pathetically lower compared to other African countries), and a culture that stigmatises business failures (to the point of being a pariah), unlike in the US where business flops are viewed in positive light, as having learnt some valuable lessons to take forward.

The annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), which compares countries in terms of entrepreneurial activity, indicates that South Africa's average TEA rate of 5.29 percent is the lowest among the upper-middleincome category in which this country was classified. The average TEA rate for this segment is 7.9 percent. However, when measured against other developing countries surveyed by GEM, South Africa still lags behind, as the average TEA rate in this group is much higher at 14.80 percent.

Other factors contributing to this situation are the tendency by communities to despise the success of friends/neighbours (more out of petty jealousy and sense of entitlement), plus the inability to access finance and stifling government regulations.

To accelerate the pace at which entrepreneurial activity takes place in South Africa, urgent inventions are necessary. There is a need for public /private partnerships to initiate entrepreneurial education at a younger age, in addition to provision of more practical, useful and workable incubators, states Herrington.

Most importantly, the regulatory framework/environment needs to be eased, making it more attractive and less burdensome for people to start up businesses.

With unemployment hovering around 23.1 percent, you would expect to find more necessity other than opportunity enterprise in this country. To the contrary, South Africa experiences more opportunity entrepreneurship, which entails taking advantage of a business opening, rather than necessity entrepreneurship, which is about engaging in business because one has no other alternative. Encouragingly, the bulk of female respondents polled by GEM South Africa (62.9 percent) stated they were opportunity entrepreneurs, while only 37.1 percent were necessity entrepreneurs. This is proof that women are taking advantage of the numerous openings being created in the economy and are heeding the call to swap stilettos for the gumboots.

"Uganda, the only other African country to have participated in GEM,has very high TEA levels, attributable to its people's propensity for hardwork," says Herrington. In that country,women entrepreneurs form the bulk ofpeople engaged in farming and small tomedium-sized enterprises.

There are clear disparities in TEA rates between the genders. This is more glaring in the 35-44 age group where 14.1 percent of respondents were male entrepreneurs, with 8.9 percent females.

There is empirical evidence to support this, judging by the fact that 7.4 percent of respondents aged between 45-54 interviewed by GEM South Africa, werefemale entrepreneurs, while 5 percentwere males. This trend was also notedamong the18-24 age group, where 12.6percent of respondents were femaleentrepreneurs, with 8.9 percent males.

Difficult  terrain  to  navigate
Herrington states that women are not given enough opportunities, a situation he blames on male chauvinism in society. There are no public/private arrangements geared towards women. Generally, women entrepreneurs in South Africa face numerous challenges.According to the Department of Tradeand Industry (DTI), some of these include:

• The regulatory environment, where some legislation limits women's contractual rights, which in turn limits their participation in the economy
• A lack of educational opportunities and the nature of our education system, which have the potential to limit women's participation in entrepreneurial activities as they are often the ones to experience limited access to education
• Cultural factors, societal views and perceptions that do not encourage

• A lack of management training and job opportunities, as in some cases women do not have the same access to appropriate training in organisations they work lor

• Family responsibilities could limit women engaging in entrepreneurial activities because such commitments are a financial priority In the same vein, it should be noted that women do not start businesses that involve employing more people. Job creation is the least of their worries when they embark on the entrepreneurial path This is partly because they are more drawn to typos of businesses which allow them
more freedom to look after their families, while creating adequate income on the sides. More often than not, this is carried out on a part-time basis, until the time is
right for them to take up another job Start-ups failure frequency The high failure rate of start-ups in South Africa has many facets to it. Every four start-ups in this country do not make it to the next phase of enterprise development. This is as a result of lack of experience, coupled with lack of sufficient knowledge of basic business skills and the absence of suitable and experienced mentors. Some of the causes documented for the closures of South African enterprises fin order of prominence) are: personal reasons, financial constraints, unspecified considerations, lack of customers, too much competition, owner getting another job or retirement
The mushrooming of copycat businesses is equally responsible for most business flops. Such enterprises offer no differentiation features but compete purely on the
basis of price. There is nothing that makes them uniquely fresh, argues Herrington.
Another drawback is the inability to differentiate between business and personal
finances. This trend is particularly common among informal traders, who tended
to live from hand to mouth. Levelling the playing field While mentorships are available to forrrial businesses in South Africa, these are rarely extended to the informal sector. This situation gives them little option but to operate on a cul-de-sac" approach, which takes their businesses nowhere bui remain survivalist for ages Business Partners, a leading provider of SME financing, is renowned for having
— s on its books. On account that SMMEs are known to create jobs more rapidly than the corporate world, they are absolutely critical to the domestic economy, stresses Herrington. On its part, government should minimise regulatory requirements to make it.