An exposition of micro-franchising and women’s entrepreneurship development, in Thulamela Local Municipality

Abstract

Micro-businesses, help, for instance, women to build their social, emotional, and economic capabilities in addition to increasing national productivity and creating jobs. Limited studies, however, have explored the exposition of micro-franchising on women entrepreneurship development in Thulamela Local Municipality, Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa. This study was conducted to explore the challenges that are faced by women entrepreneurs in micro-franchising and to come up with strategies that can be employed to overcome those challenges. A qualitative research approach was employed, with a sample of 12 women entrepreneurs in Thulamela Local Municipality; convenience sampling technique was adopted to select the participants. Primary data was gathered through in-depth interviews using a structured interview guide. The study findings reveal that the contribution of micro-franchising to women’s entrepreneurship development includes employment creation, income generation, independence, and skills pooling. The study also established that the challenges that are faced by women entrepreneurs in micro franchising are – lack of access to markets; inadequate infrastructure; very stiff competition; unreliable customers; distrust by individuals; gender discrimination; inadequate knowledge; lack of capital; lack of financial literacy; lack of training; low profit, inadequate client base; having to sell on credit; poor time management and unsatisfied customers. Strategies recommended to enhance micro franchising for women entrepreneurship development, included – stakeholders conducting awareness events, campaigns and entrepreneurial workshops, financial literacy training; funding; infrastructure provision; mentorship, non-financial support and network opportunities; skills training and the municipality must create an enabling condition such as providing women entrepreneurs with stalls to sell from. The major limitation is that the study was done in Thulamela Local Municipality, Vhembe district, Limpopo which implies that it might not be possible to generalise the findings and recommendations to other municipalities or provinces.