Prospects of entrepreneurship in South Africa’s rural areas: A case study of Eastern Cape Province’s Nkonkobe Municipal Area.

This study aimed to identify factors that promote entrepreneurship in all areas including tourism in rural South Africa with a focus on Nkonkobe municipal area in Eastern Cape Province. Rural entrepreneurship is viewed a catalyst for rural development through employment creation and income generation in areas such as for example tourism and craft manufacture. It also promotes the standards of living of people in rural areas. Quantitative research methodology, and a survey research design, was used for data collection. Perceptions of 53 rural entrepreneurs were gathered using a questionnaire. The article is important because it gives insights into opportunities for rural entrepreneurship development in developing economies. Most publications available are sadly biased towards developed economies. Results show that the majority (83%) of the respondents depended very much on entrepreneurship for a living The results also suggested that social capital in the form of special relationships, access to critical information, unique local knowledge and previous experience was ranked the most important factor (mean factor rank=1.95) when starting businesses. Having unique local knowledge on the needs of people in Nkonkobe Municipality gave rural entrepreneurs competitive advantage in pursuit of their opportunities. The personal experience individuals got from previous employment made opportunity identification somewhat easier. The socio-economic implications of the study is, that through rural entrepreneurship, people in rural areas have some prospects to reduce poverty and enhance rural development and welfare improvement. The study recommends provision of training and capacity building programmes to foster entrepreneurial development and growth in Nkonkobe Municipality. It further recommends funding programmes such microfinance schemes for promoting entrepreneurship in rural Nkonkobe Municipal area