Women entrepreneurs braved and survived Covid-19

A RECENT study by Lionesses of Africa, a network of women entrepreneurs, focused on the resilience of women entrepreneurs during Covid-19 and has shown that 90% of the entrepreneurs say the creation of jobs is the main consideration for starting their business ventures.

The study further revealed how women entrepreneurs contribute significantly to human-capital development, with 80% reported to have provided employee training in the past 12 months. In partnership with New York University and collaboration with Absa Group Limited, the study started from November 2020 to April 2021 and 913 women entrepreneurs across all nine provinces were engaged via an online survey. Seventy-six percent of these respondents have children in their homes.

The pandemic also showed how only a small share of women could access government Covid-19 business assistance or secure external financing when needed.

“Access to external resources was particularly challenging for younger entrepreneurs and those leading small enterprises. Most of the women surveyed experienced sizeable losses in revenues due to Covid-19, which has affected their plans for growth and hiring,” the study shows.

Regardless of the above setbacks, there is optimism that many women business owners were at the forefront of protecting jobs during the pandemic, with many going to great lengths of looking after their staff, and more than two-thirds reducing their own salaries or stopped paying themselves a salary altogether.

“The majority of respondents anticipate that their businesses will recover from the impact of Covid-19 within two years; they anticipate growth in revenues and are either actively recruiting new staff or planning for near-term hires. Women-led businesses with a digital presence demonstrated greater resilience during Covid-19; those that made the majority of their sales through an app or online marketplace were less likely to be affected by Covid-19 and had more optimistic projections about their future revenues.

“Responses reveal that South Africa’s women entrepreneurs who are employers engage in many preferential-hiring practices. Most commonly, 87% indicate preferential-hiring practices for women, young people (80%), and historically disadvantaged South Africans (75%). Thirty-six percent noted preferential hiring for people with disabilities”.

Dr. Linda Zuze, research director at Lioness Data, said the survey uncovered how women-owned businesses that have made the most of their sales through an app or online marketplace were particularly confident about their capacity to create jobs in the next twelve months.

“It is also important to note the contribution that women entrepreneurs bring. The survey revealed also that women entrepreneurs tended to hire their first employee early in the life of their business and 67% (of them) within the first year. These entrepreneurs also had plans to create additional jobs in the future. Over onethird stated that their current staffing levels were inadequate for their needs and 41% were actively recruiting.” However, Zuze noted that as a result of the pandemic, South African women have had to deal with greater levels of unpaid work.

“Women entrepreneurs faced similar constraints to their time and resources and of course time is crucial for the entrepreneur. So when we see that three-quarters of women are confident in their businesses’ capacity to create jobs and that they are committed to creating jobs for their community, it’s an indication of high levels of confidence in the face of ongoing uncertainty.”

The South African Women Entrepreneurs Job Creators Survey report is on www.lionessesofafrica.com.