The Survival of Female-owned Micro Enterprises in the UMkhanyakude District

The purpose of this research report is to determine factors that increase the probability of rural female entrepreneurs remaining in business for at least two years or longer. Contemporary development theory asserts that women play a prominent role in uplifting their families and developing their communities. The promotion of entrepreneurship among women in rural communities has been shown to be a formidably successful approach to development. Owing to the paucity of local studies in this vein, this project investigated the causal factors behind female entrepreneurs of the uMkhanyakude district staying in business for two years or more. Primary data were collected from entrepreneurs operating their businesses in the locality, using snowball sampling method, a sample of 273 entrepreneurs were interviewed by means of questionnaires. Logistic regression was used to estimate factors that increased the probability of women staying in business. The study revealed that the higher the levels of business experience, education, business success and hours spent on business the greater the chances of women staying in business. Financial and input constraints were major restrictions on women staying in business. Marital status, age, competition and marketing constraints were found to be insignificant. As most of the entrepreneurs in the uMkhanyakude district depend on stokvels and their saving for financing their businesses, the study suggest that such groups be harnessed by the DTI in the Grameen-bank type programmes manner which offer poor rural women low-cost loans for entrepreneurial purposes