The physiognomy of SMMEs in South Africa and consequential national strategy reinforcement

The diverse landscape and physiognomies of the small, medium and micro-enterprise (SMME) sector have caused immense challenges regarding reliable and comprehensive knowledge accumulation for this segment of the South African economy. This restraint has caused grave credibility concerns among many data users regarding the exactitude of SMME data, rendering such data largely unsuitable for policy and SMME business development purposes. Consequently, entrepreneurial aspirations and the vision to cultivate economic growth through sustainable small business development in South Africa, remain a pipedream. To provide specific direction to alleviate the undesirable state of affairs, this critique makes a case for SMMEs as an ingenious pathway to create jobs, increase levels of subjective well-being and improve standards of living. Consequently, the article presents a detailed review of features of and challenges facing SMMEs in an attempt to identify future strategies that are most likely to support the transformation of the SMME sector into a growth engine, ideally suited to address key development issues (poverty, income inequality and unemployment) hampering prospective overall economic growth in South Africa. Owing to the fact that the retail sector dominates the small business sector of South Africa, the endorsed strategy presents an equivalent reference framework for future small retail business development, growth and sustainability.