Evaluating the performance of the South African Breweries Foundation Tholoana Enterprise Fund

M.Com. (Business Management)Abstract: Small businesses play a major role in the economic development of South Africa, yet the country’s business environment is marked by low entrepreneurial activity, small business failure and stunted small business growth. The impact of small businesses on the economy and general development is determined by the performance of small businesses, but these businesses are faced with challenges that hinder growth or cause businesses to be untenable. Several support programmes from government and the private sector are available to assist entrepreneurs to establish small businesses but the performance or success of these programmes is not measured and therefore the effect of the programmes not quantifiable and lessons or models not recorded and shared. Very little empirical research exists on the evaluation or measurement of the success of entrepreneurship support programmes. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of the South African Breweries Foundation Tholoana Enterprise Fund with a specific focus on the successes. A quantitative study was conducted and primary data collected using questionnaires and telephone surveys among the beneficiaries of the Tholoana Enterprise Fund between 2012 and 2014. The entire population made up of 197 elements was targeted with only 175 entrepreneurs being reachable. The methods of analysis employed in this study are descriptive statistics using frequency tables, custom tables, mean and standard deviations and inferential statistics using correlation and paired sample tests. The findings of this study suggest that most respondents attributed business continuity to the grant received from the Tholoana Enterprise Fund. The study also determined that success for small businesses is determined by a combination of success factors rather than only one. The study indicated that a few small businesses received support from either the private sector or government. The results of this study contributed to theory building as there is a paucity of evaluations or measurement of entrepreneurship support programmes