IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/baq/taprar/v6y2023i4p36-44.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An investigation into the financial challenges affecting the success of entrepreneurs in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Eugine Nkwinika

    (University of Johannesburg)

  • Olawale Olufemi Akinrinde

    (University of Johannesburg)

Abstract

The object of this study is the financial difficulties that impacted the success of business owners in Hatfield, Gauteng province, South Africa. Compared to a global failure rate of 50 %, five out of every seven entrepreneurs in Hatfield, South Africa fail during the first year of operation. This study aimed at looking into the relationship between entrepreneur failure and financial literacy. The methodology employed in this study is interpretive philosophy-based qualitative research. An ethnographic research technique was also used to analyze the current economic condition of business owners in Hatfield. The population was sampled using non-probability purposive sampling techniques. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather the study's leading source of data. The primary research results are thematically examined while also considering the secondary sources. Eliminating financial and liquidity constraints was listed as a goal of financial literacy. Findings garnered revealed that financial, liquidity and credit restrictions are the primary causes of business failures in Hatfield. The lack of financial resources for new businesses in Hatfield, as revealed, prompted several liquidity issues in Hatfield, and further lowers the growth rate of Hatfield businesses. It was discovered that Hatfield's entrepreneurs usually experienced premature failure due to inadequate financial education and training. Impliedly, Hatfield business owners possessed poor cash management, defaulting on loan payments due to lack of financial education. Conversely, only few entrepreneurs and business owners in Hatfield, South Africa possess financial literacy competence with the necessary skills needed to better analyze their financial statements appropriately and increase profitability of their business. The practical implication of this finding is that, most entrepreneurs have high possibility to experience premature business liquidity when they have low or no financial literacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Eugine Nkwinika & Olawale Olufemi Akinrinde, 2023. "An investigation into the financial challenges affecting the success of entrepreneurs in South Africa," Technology audit and production reserves, PC TECHNOLOGY CENTER, vol. 6(4(74)), pages 36-44, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:baq:taprar:v:6:y:2023:i:4:p:36-44
    DOI: 10.15587/2706-5448.2023.292555
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.uran.ua/tarp/article/download/292555/285737
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.15587/2706-5448.2023.292555?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sasan Bakhtiari & Robert Breunig & Lisa Magnani & Jacquelyn Zhang, 2020. "Financial Constraints and Small and Medium Enterprises: A Review," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 96(315), pages 506-523, December.
    2. Chiappini, Raphaël & Montmartin, Benjamin & Pommet, Sophie & Demaria, Samira, 2022. "Can direct innovation subsidies relax SMEs’ financial constraints?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(5).
    3. Eric W. Liguori & Thomas G. Pittz, 2020. "Strategies for small business: Surviving and thriving in the era of COVID-19," Journal of the International Council for Small Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 106-110, April.
    4. Tanja Wolf & Michael Kuttner & Birgit Feldbauer-Durstmüller & Christine Mitter, 2020. "What we know about management accountants’ changing identities and roles – a systematic literature review," Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 16(3), pages 311-347, August.
    5. Adriana Burlea-Schiopoiu & Laurentiu Stelian Mihai, 2019. "An Integrated Framework on the Sustainability of SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-22, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shahin Vaqif Bayramov & Viktoriya Kookueva & Alexander Kolobov & Liudmila Tsvetkova, 2023. "Innovative Business Models in the Context of Organizational Culture Transformation in the COVID-19 Pandemic," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 365-387, March.
    2. Vandana Madhavan & Murale Venugopalan & Bhumika Gupta & Gyanendra Singh Sisodia, 2023. "Addressing Agency Problem in Employee Training: The Role of Goal Congruence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-27, February.
    3. Mostafiz, Md Imtiaz & Ahmed, Farhad Uddin & Tardios, Janja & Hughes, Paul & Tarba, Shlomo Y., 2025. "Configuring international entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic internationalization capability to predict international performance," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(2).
    4. Asif Mahmood & Rana Tahir Naveed & Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz & Muhammad Khalique & Mohammad Adnan, 2021. "Unleashing the Barriers to CSR Implementation in the SME Sector of a Developing Economy: A Thematic Analysis Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-20, November.
    5. Ángel Acevedo-Duque & Romel Gonzalez-Diaz & Elena Cachicatari Vargas & Anherys Paz-Marcano & Sheyla Muller-Pérez & Guido Salazar-Sepúlveda & Giulia Caruso & Idiano D’Adamo, 2021. "Resilience, Leadership and Female Entrepreneurship within the Context of SMEs: Evidence from Latin America," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-17, July.
    6. Raffeq S. Alim, 2025. "Marketing Strategy Transformation of Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao: A Convergent Design," International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI), vol. 12(1), pages 614-631, January.
    7. Wang, Rui & Mao, Keqi, 2024. "How does bank competition affect trade-mode transformation? Evidence from Chinese export enterprises," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    8. Waqas Khan & Qasim Ali Nisar & Ahmad Raza Bilal & Bengü Yardimci & Ali Raza Elahi, 2024. "Empirical Nexus Between Firm Characteristics, Market Characteristics, Financial Delinquency, and Its Analogy to Access to Finance for SMEs," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(4), pages 17407-17435, December.
    9. Dariusz Pauch & Arkadiusz Malkowski & Marcin Janowski, 2024. "The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on the Situation of Micro, Small, and Medium Sized Enterprises in the Transport Sector in Poland," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 524-532.
    10. Heller, David, 2024. "Financial market integration and the effects of financing constraints on innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    11. Jolanta Stec-Rusiecka & Agata Warminska, 2021. "The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Taking up Socially Responsible Actions," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4 - Part ), pages 788-798.
    12. Khoa T. Tran & Phuong V. Nguyen, 2020. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Findings from the Vietnamese Paint Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, February.
    13. Pyounggu Baek & Taesung Kim, 2021. "Socially Responsible HR in Action: Learning from Corporations Listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World 2018/2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-17, March.
    14. Radeef Chundakkadan & Rajesh Raj Natarajan & Subash Sasidharan, 2022. "Small firms amidst COVID‐19: Financial constraints and role of government support," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 51(3), November.
    15. Tang, Can & Wang, Bing & Zheng, Wenping, 2025. "Can structural loan policy promote low-carbon transition of manufacturing enterprises? New evidence from China," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    16. Luo, Hang (Robin) & Yan, Dawei, 2025. "Inclusive financial development and common prosperity: An empirical analysis using individual-level data," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 261-274.
    17. Ying Wu & Yuanyue Deng, 2024. "Does digital transformation crowd out the employment of lower skill labor?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(3), pages 726-748, July.
    18. Fuming Yang & Xixi Ye & Weilun Huang & Xuemeng Zhao, 2023. "The impacts on informal financing strategy of small and micro enterprises by interest rate risks and public health emergencies," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1673-1705, December.
    19. Lasse Torkkeli & Susanne Durst, 2022. "Corporate Social Responsibility of SMEs: Learning Orientation and Performance Outcomes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-12, May.
    20. Jochen Fähndrich, 2023. "A literature review on the impact of digitalisation on management control," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 9-65, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:baq:taprar:v:6:y:2023:i:4:p:36-44. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Iryna Prudius (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.uran.ua/tarp/issue/archive .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.