Abstract
M.B.A.
The Black enterprise sector in South Africa has, despite a long history of
exclusion and restriction, substantial potential to help distribute employment, income,
and wealth more equitably between whites and blacks. This report summarizes
research on the subject and attempts to evaluate realistically the potential role that
small black enterprise can play in this effort. It also examines the challenges and
constraints that face small black businesses.
South Africa's small black business is highly constrained by the restrictions that
apartheid placed on the establishment of businesses, on the opportunities for skilled
employment, and on the educational opportunities for blacks as well as by the
restrictions affecting the spatial arrangement of cities (Riley, 1993: ix)
Despite severe constrains, evidence of dynamic growth does exist, notably among
small light manufacturing enterprises, whose incomes and employment are above
averages for the sector. Also, the incomes of even the most survival-level businesses
are critical to the survival of many households. The small black businesses has two
distinct roles that deserve to be supported in any project or policy intervention: it is a
residual employer with an important role to play in improving welfare and alleviating
poverty, and it is a source of dynamic and potentially dynamic firms that create
wealth and generate employment. (Riley, 1993: ix)
Since the dawn of democracy in South Africa in April 1994, the government has
come up with concerted efforts to create a conducive environment for developing
Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs), particularly from historically
disadvantage individuals (Petje: i) Approach chosen for the study was to personally interview eight respondents both
from established business and black small businesses with the aid of a structured
interview schedule. Questions were open ended and allowed for self expression by the
respondents. The nature of the research was to be investigative rather than to provide
statistical measure of dependency.