Abstract
Social entrepreneurship projects have been recognized as a major source of supplementing income and reducing poverty in female-headed households in contemporary South Africa. The number of women engaged in social entrepreneurship has increased in the past decade because of access to business training and mentorship facilitated through women-led business forums. Considering that social work students are expected to help poor women break the cycle of poverty and meet their economic goals, this paper is an attempt to advance empirical evidence in the field of social development and feminization of poverty. Using qualitative methodology, we present evidence from 120 social work students who were involved in policy analysis and evaluation of women-led entrepreneurship projects in the province of Gauteng, South Africa. Underscored by the sustainable livelihood approach, this paper deliberates four themes which distilled from the data: establishment of multi-stakeholder networks, tapping on infrastructure to produce goods, paying it forward and enhancing skills development. The paper calls for social workers to adopt a sustainable livelihood approach in practice as it presents a positive social development strategy that can assist poor women to work towards economic self-reliance.