Keyword: small businesses

Provincial Centres for Entrepreneurship? South Africa's New Small Business Ministry Gets Off on Wrong Foot

Picture: Youth Development Outreach Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen - South Africans of all stripes often lament the general lack of entrepreneurial success and limited support for its development in the country. So when President Jacob Zuma created a new small business ministry, the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD), soon after entering his second term in office, the news was well received all round. The new ministry has its work cut out for it, but its minister, Lindiwe Zulu, appears confident that it will be up and running and producing...

Can South Africa's New Small Business Development Ministry Promote Structural Change?

Picture: Michigan Advantage Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen - A curious debate between agency and structure has unfolded in South Africa in relation to “small business” over the last two decades. On the one hand, the celebration of successful entrepreneurs as exceptional individuals has led to an explosion of self-help blogs, courses and books. Successful South African entrepreneurs in every niche are celebrated. There is nothing explicitly wrong with these inspirational stories of success. However, taken to their extreme, these relentless...