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Article

Open Access

Becoming Big: How Small Enterprises Experience Project-based Enterprise Development

Author(s)

Xolani Ngonini, Ola Busari

Full-Text PDF Download XML 1070 Views

DOI:10.17265/2328-7144/2017.05.009

Affiliation(s)

Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, Centurion, South Africa

ABSTRACT

Developing small and micro enterprises is frequently viewed as a panacea to unemployment, poverty, and inequality, or even a universal remedy for fast-tracking broad-based economic growth. In South Africa, mainstreaming entrepreneurship into the building of economic and social infrastructure is fundamental to the developmental agenda of government, and there are strong expectations that, by 2030, 90% of jobs would be created in small and growing enterprises. As part of the strategic program on socio-economic transformation at the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, the organization’s enterprise development model emphasizes that large contracting firms involved in the delivery of bulk water infrastructure take under their wings, smaller emerging enterprises, systematically transferring critical skills and providing mentorship. This paper explores the experiences and perceptions of the owners and managers of small enterprises in the program providing on-the-project support against their own aspiration of “becoming big” including alignment with what they consider as their developmental needs for sustainable business survival into the future. Data and information on the program were obtained through a review of internal documents on program design, progress reports on the enterprise development component, field assessment of projects, and resulting actions in enterprise development as well as from in-depth interviews with professional mentors, managers, and owners of beneficiary enterprises.

KEYWORDS

TCTA, small enterprises, state-owned entities, economic development, business support, mentoring

Cite this paper

Economics World, Sep.-Oct. 2017, Vol. 5, No. 5, 466-476 doi: 10.17265/2328-7144/2017.05.009

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