Following the findings of the report below we need to find more effective ways of supporting small business and entrepreneurship in South Africa. Many of the governments incentives has simply not worked and its now time to be more innovative and strategic in our support. The creation of SABusinessHub is certainly a step in the right direction.

Some opinions here will be great.
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THERE are some disturbing statistics for South African entrepreneurs and policymakers in the recently released Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.

Some common truths about the role and value of the small and micro enterprise may need to be revised if the report’s findings are to be believed.

This is the seventh instalment of this report, with the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town conducting the South African leg of the global study.

The most striking finding from more than 3 200 enterprises surveyed is that South Africa has the lowest entrepreneurial rate of all developing countries participating in this annual survey.

According to the report, only five out of every 100 South African adults between the ages of 18 and 64 own and manage a business that is older than three and a half years.

This compares rather dismally with countries such as Brazil, Thailand, Greece, New Zealand and China, where more than 10% of the adult population own and manage an established business.

Even more disturbing is the level of job creation by SMEs.

The GEM report states that the primary job creators are firms that employ 20 or more people, worldwide.

The South African study showed that less than 3% of necessity businesses – survivalist enterprises – create six or more jobs.

“This calls into question the notion that the informal sector is likely to be able to contribute much in the way of job creation,â€