Globally, COVID-19 has caused significant damage, including business closures and changes in how entrepreneurial activities are performed. The pandemic has spawned a slew of publications with the majority thereof being editorials, commentaries, and concept notes. This implies a lack of empirical evidence on the pandemic. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to explore the COVID-19 challenges and coping mechanisms for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Data for the study were collected from 15 SME owners through semi-structured interviews using a generic qualitative research method. The findings revealed that the SME COVID-19 challenges included lockdown restrictions, customer loss, lack of government support, and scarcity of raw materials. The coping mechanisms used by the SMEs were having a positive entrepreneurial mindset followed by reduced service prices and the retrenchments of employees. Theoretically, the study contributes to the scarce empirical evidence on COVID-19 challenges and coping mechanisms for SMEs in the South African context; to the available literature in the entrepreneurial ecosystem context and to the world at large. Practically, it is recommended that during crises, businesses should network with one another to remain operational and, owing to e-commerce, they are encouraged to have an online presence.
Immigrant entrepreneurship is a global phenomenon that has recently attracted the interest of South African academics. The goal of this article was to conduct a systematic review of the literature on immigrant entrepreneurship in South African (SA) between 2009 and 2021. This systematic review was especially important because it synthesised the current literature on immigrant entrepreneurship in SA as well as proposing new avenues for research. The review included 48 articles, with an emphasis on publication trends, methodological and theoretical approaches, provincial focus, networks used by immigrant entrepreneurs and the barriers faced by immigrant entrepreneurs in SA. The findings indicate that scholarly interest in the concept has increased in SA since 2016–2018, which recorded the highest number of publications (16). The majority of studies in the review employed a quantitative approach; thus, further theorisation of the concept is required, and immigrant entrepreneurs are encouraged to explore other networks such as family, business, managerial and interorganisational networks.This article contributes to immigrant entrepreneurship literature in the South African context by synthesising the findings on immigrant entrepreneurship published within the designated timeframe. In addition, the article also identifies areas of future research on immigrant entrepreneurship in SA.
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