Description
Promotion of entrepreneurship and small business is an important priority of the government of SA. The Small Business White Paper (1995), the Small Business Act (1996), and the Integrated Strategy on the Promotion of Entrepreneurship and Small Business provide a framework for role-players that seek to assist the entry of new players into the formal economy. This is done by strengthening the growth and sustainability of existing enterprises and creating linkages so that some start-ups may graduate from local micro to globally competitive businesses. An international panel of economists identified crime as a factor that disadvantaged small
businesses. Over 2 million crimes were reported to the police in the financial year of 2007/08. There was an increase in crime victimisation of businesses – burglary of business premises increased by 8%, commercial crimes by 6%, and shoplifting by
2%.
The purpose of the evaluation is to provide a better understanding of the extent to which crime impacts on small enterprises, and more particularly on emerging black owned businesses.
