Abstract
The government recognises the important role of small, micro, and medium enterprises (SMMEs) in creating employment and contributing to economic growth and poverty eradication. Therefore, they prioritise SMMEs by attempting to find strategic and efficient ways to support them. Despite the government’s efforts, this support is perceived to be ineffective, as SMMEs in South Africa still experience a high failure rate of 70% to 80% within the first five years of inception (Boucher 2022). The problem observed was that SMMEs fail due to a lack of access to internal and external resources, which deprives SMMEs of improving their performance and having a competitive advantage in the market. This problem is mainly caused by factors such as excessive red tape and poor access to government support services. Therefore, the focus was to investigate the role of the government in establishing actions and activities that would create favourable conditions to empower small businesses with the resources required to thrive and achieve prosperity. The study followed an interpretivism research philosophy, used a case study research design and a qualitative approach to collect data in semi-structured interviews. Thereafter, thematic analysis was used to identify and analyse the different patterns of qualitative data. The sample consisted of 10 participants, including one government department official, one representative of small business support agencies, and eight small business owners or entrepreneurs. This allowed the study to capture the challenges experienced by SMMEs which result in a high failure rate. Using this information, the study developed strategic ways to increase access to critical resources so that small businesses can sufficiently obtain the necessary resources to operate efficiently in South Africa. Establishing a friendly environment will help small firms access support, reduce their cost of doing business, unlock investment opportunities, create more employment, and contribute to their growth and prosperity.