Abstract
In South Africa and globally, women-owned businesses play a pivotal role in alleviating
poverty by creating employment and contributing to building and sustaining economic growth
and development. Various initiatives have been created in the private and public sectors through
business incubators and enterprise development programmes, and the South African government
has shown increasing support and commitment to empowering South African Women
entrepreneurs by launching programmes such as the Women's Economic Assembly to empower
women in business. Although there is perceived support, there is a high level of start-ups failing,
and women entrepreneurs still face barriers like access to finance or business acumen to start and
develop their businesses. There are various interventions that business incubators have included
in their incubator programmes, and coaching has been identified to support the growth and
development of women-owned businesses. This research investigated the specific barriers
encountered by women entrepreneurs before attending coaching in the incubator program and
how the coaching intervention possibly influenced the entrepreneurial journey of women
entrepreneurs, particularly in terms of skill transfer from the coaching environment to the work
environment. The study was conducted within business incubators in Gauteng, South Africa. The
data was collected from 12 women entrepreneurs participating in a 12-month incubator program,
which included regular coaching sessions, using semi-structured interviews. The data was
analysed using thematic analysis and indicated that coaching had an impact on the womenowned
businesses, and the entrepreneurs were impacted both individually and in their start-ups.
The entrepreneurs’ areas of impact include personal goals and ambitions, increased selfawareness
and self-confidence, leading their businesses more effectively and enhanced business
vi
and leadership skills. The perceived impact on the start-ups includes diversification of products
and increased sales, implementation of systems and tools, improved business systems and growth
in the business. The results highlighted the importance of tailored and customised coaching
initiatives for women entrepreneurs, particularly in incubator settings and how targeted training
and coaching interventions could be the catalyst for unlocking South African economic growth.
The results have implications for incubator managers and policymakers seeking to promote
gender equality and empowerment in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and recommendations to
improve coaching programmes that are part of business. Coaching programmes should focus on
investing intentionally in the development and growth of entrepreneurs and not just a Black
Economic Empowerment (BEE) compliance tick-box exercise for corporations to obtain Broad-
Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE). Regular tracking of the business progress
should be done by measuring the impact of coaching through metrics and key performance
indicators focusing on the start-up’s growth and development, transfer of skills and knowledge,
job creation, and revenue increase.