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According to Gugu Mjadu, executive general manager of Business Partners Limited, female clients currently make up 38,9% of their client book and over the past financial year 41,2% of disbursements were invested in female businesses. The distribution of disbursements made to female businesses has also remained constant, averaging at 40,5% over the past three financial years.
"As a company we remain committed to empowering female entrepreneurs, and this is evidenced by our statistics. For instance, while only 24,5% of finance applications received by Business Partners Limited in the last financial year were submitted by female businesses, they accounted for 35,9% of all applications approved."
Mjadu says that their statistics also reveal that of these female businesses, 37,1% are run by black individuals. 21,5% of these female run businesses operate within the real estate services space, followed by hotel services, which make up 12,5% of these businesses. The majority of female businesses operate within Western Cape (29,5%), Gauteng (19,8%) and KwaZulu-Natal (19,6%).
She says that the average category age of these female clients is between 46 and 55 years. "This is probably due to the fact that females in this age category have learnt a great deal, both personally and professionally, and are more confident at this stage of their lives to venture into their own business." When it comes to established business activity, South Africa has equal percentages of women and men running established businesses. Other than five economies in sub-Saharan Africa and three from different regions, in all other economies there are fewer women than men at this business stage.
She explains that ultimately, the growth of female entrepreneurship is very positive for the South African economy. "Not only are these women creating jobs for themselves and providing for their families, they are employing various other South Africans, who are then able to provide for their families. The continued female involvement in the SME sector is a key contributor to economic growth, as well as job creation in South Africa," concludes Mjadu.
