The marketing of start-up capital to women entrepreneurs in South Africa

Women entrepreneurship plays a critical role in economic growth and development (Mitchelmore and Rowley 2013; Still and Timms 2000). In fact, research on economic growth is incomplete without recognising the contribution of women entrepreneurship. Whilst the participation of women in the small business sector is growing rapidly (McGregor and Tweed 2002), there is a dearth of research on this subject within developing countries (Roomi and Parrott 2008) as most studies have focused on women entrepreneurship in developed countries (Bhatt-Datta and Gaily 2012). This is largely attributed to the fact that entrepreneurial efforts by women have gone unnoticed and their contributions have been under appreciated (Bhatt-Datta and Gailey 2012). In Sub-Saharan Africa for example, women owned small businesses produce more than eighty per cent of food production (Woldie and Adersua 2004). Previous studies have focused on how females are choosing entrepreneurship in favour of the corporate ladder (Kephart and Schumacher 2005); the lack of public policy and programmes relating to women entrepreneurs in India (Chandra 1991); the entry and performance barriers for women entrepreneurs in Tanzania taking a governmental perspective (Rutashobya 1998). However, research relating to the marketing of start-up capital targeting women entrepreneurs within developing countries is scarce (Carter and Peter 1998; Nichter and Goldmark 2009).