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The purpose of this study is to explore the challenges and opportunities of the COVID-19 pandemic for women entrepreneurs operating in the informal food sector. An exploratory qualitative approach is used to guide the collection and analysis of data which were collected from a sample of twenty women entrepreneurs. Verbatim transcriptions of digital recordings were analyzed thematically. The findings of the study indicate that women experienced the worst economic effects of the pandemic and faced a range of challenges, such as decreased customer base and demand, loss of income, lack of government and private support, safety and security fears, disrupted supply chains, and requirement for trading permits. Whereas the opportunities encompassed usage of digital technologies, alternative markets and new product offerings, and establishment of Informal women business networks. From the study findings, it is hence vital that policies acknowledge the importance of women and informal food vendors in the nation's informal food system.

The study analyzes the development of business incubation literature in South Africa. The VOSviewer software was used to perform the bibliometric analysis of 44 articles on business incubation in South Africa conducted between 1996 and 2023 that were obtained from the Scopus database. The study has also revealed literature on business incubation started to appear in 1996 in South Africa. The study’s keyword co-occurrence analysis also revealed that the following words had the most occurrences and were clustered into the following: entrepreneurship and business incubation, business incubators and effectiveness, entrepreneurial education and informal Business, SMEs and start-up, business and sustainability, and business development and competitiveness. The study sorts the articles based on the following indicators: number of documents published in a year, eminent authors and keyword co-occurrence, which identified six categories of the most prominent research themes being covered by articles reviewed. The study only used articles that were written in English language only. Therefore, future research should consider articles written in other languages and expand the study to other regions, continents, and even global scale.

Previous studies indicate the adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on entrepreneurship sustainability and socio-economic development. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic caused an economic crisis in global economies. This study acknowledged that entrepreneurship is a crucial component to consider in mitigating the aftereffects of the pandemic on economies and their recovery. The study examines the characteristics that encourage the survival of entrepreneurship in the COVID-19 pandemic environment and investigates the link between entrepreneurship and long-term development. The study evaluated the relevant literature to validate the correlations between the key variables to accomplish this goal. Given the setting of the Coronavirus pandemic, the study determines what the future of entrepreneurship will look like. The study is interested in knowing what path the entrepreneurs will choose regarding recovery. The method used to perform this study was a judgemental survey on the future trends in entrepreneurship. According to the findings, the top three positions are freelancing, internet and innovative entrepreneurship, and business globalisation, which will follow the trend in entrepreneurship. The practical implications of this research support entrepreneurs in their pursuit of new business trends.

This study aims to explore incubatees’ perceptions of the challenges facing start-ups and entrepreneurs at the National University of Lesotho Innovation Hub. An interpretive, qualitative approach was adopted. Six purposively selected incubatees partook in semi-structured interviews and the data were analysed through content thematic analysis. Delay in disbursement of incubation funds, infrastructure deficits and deficiency of entrepreneurial knowledge were identified as the major constraints as perceived by incubatees. University hubs should ensure that capitation grants are disbursed to the start-ups on time to provide incubateess’ timely preparation of the budgets and purchase of all the required products and hence timely commencement of the incubation process. Lack of essential facilities in the university hub and deficiency of entrepreneurial knowledge may hinder the ability of start-ups to successfully develop. The study results suggest the development of strategies and initiatives to effectively support start-ups in university hubs. Benchmarking from successful experience of regional and international universities innovation hubs on how to effectively manage incubator sponsorship. Implementation of training and development programs to assist start-ups to acquire new skills and stay updated with the latest industry trends and technologies. Lastly, investment in contemporary facilities, such as labs, offices and provision of state-of-art resources for incubatees is commended.

In response to unemployment and socio-economic challenges in the South Africa's higher education institutions introduces entrepreneurship education (EE) with the aim to create sustainable job opportunities. However, higher education (HE) struggles to integrate EE within the university programmes and make it as practical as possible. Furthermore, fostering entrepreneurial mindset and intentions among students is not an easy task. The primary objective of this conceptual paper is to examine the level of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions among the students within the South African higher education. We used qualitative case study methodology, to purposive select 30 articles using a google scholar search engine. The paper was driven by three research questions, namely, what is the level of entrepreneurship education among students in South African higher education? What are the entrepreneurial intentions of these students? Does the design of the EE curriculum foster students' entrepreneurial mindset and intentions? The findings identified a need to curriculum transformation that integrate EE across various disciples; not just a stand-alone module that fails to foster a broad-based entrepreneurial mindset. Furthermore, the findings shows that policy support and infrastructural development should be geared towards the growth and sustainability of EE programs and launching of innovation hubs and other support structures within universities to provide practical EE experiences.

Previous studies indicate the adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on entrepreneurship sustainability and socio-economic development. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic caused an economic crisis in global economies. This study acknowledged that entrepreneurship is a crucial component to consider in mitigating the aftereffects of the pandemic on economies and their recovery. The study examines the characteristics that encourage the survival of entrepreneurship in the COVID-19 pandemic environment and investigates the link between entrepreneurship and long-term development. The study evaluated the relevant literature to validate the correlations between the key variables to accomplish this goal. Given the setting of the Coronavirus pandemic, the study determines what the future of entrepreneurship will look like. The study is interested in knowing what path the entrepreneurs will choose regarding recovery. The method used to perform this study was a judgemental survey on the future trends in entrepreneurship. According to the findings, the top three positions are freelancing, internet and innovative entrepreneurship, and business globalisation, which will follow the trend in entrepreneurship. The practical implications of this research support entrepreneurs in their pursuit of new business trends.

This study aims to explore incubatees’ perceptions of the challenges facing start-ups and entrepreneurs at the National University of Lesotho Innovation Hub. An interpretive, qualitative approach was adopted. Six purposively selected incubatees partook in semi-structured interviews and the data were analysed through content thematic analysis. Delay in disbursement of incubation funds, infrastructure deficits and deficiency of entrepreneurial knowledge were identified as the major constraints as perceived by incubatees. University hubs should ensure that capitation grants are disbursed to the start-ups on time to provide incubateess’ timely preparation of the budgets and purchase of all the required products and hence timely commencement of the incubation process. Lack of essential facilities in the university hub and deficiency of entrepreneurial knowledge may hinder the ability of start-ups to successfully develop. The study results suggest the development of strategies and initiatives to effectively support start-ups in university hubs. Benchmarking from successful experience of regional and international universities innovation hubs on how to effectively manage incubator sponsorship. Implementation of training and development programs to assist start-ups to acquire new skills and stay updated with the latest industry trends and technologies. Lastly, investment in contemporary facilities, such as labs, offices and provision of state-of-art resources for incubatees is commended.

The secretive conduct of entrepreneurs regarding their business success undermines the principles of openness, transparency, and honesty, which are essential in entrepreneurship as they foster accountability, responsible business practices, and ethical behaviour. The research seeks to examine the degree to which entrepreneurs reveal information regarding their business success to various stakeholders. The research employed an interpretative perspective and a qualitative methodology. Purposive sampling was employed to choose entrepreneurs managing SMMEs in the Limpopo Province. An inductive methodology was employed to obtain comprehensive data regarding the communication of entrepreneurial success by firm owners. ATLAS.ti 8 was employed for data analysis. The findings indicated that entrepreneurs convey their success to diverse stakeholders, including relatives, friends, and business networks, by sharing best practices and inspiring others to pursue entrepreneurial endeavours. This study has discovered that the disclosure of success primarily occurs when entrepreneurs seek funding or loans from banks and the government. Standard communication with authorities was identified as another method by which entrepreneurs report their success to the South African Revenue Services during tax return submissions. This study found that entrepreneurs' perceptions of success vary in their communications with different stakeholders. The work offered significant contributions to the existing literature and future research from a theoretical standpoint.

Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) are crucial to South Africa's economy, significantly contributing to job creation and innovation. However, they face challenges such as limited access to finance, skills shortages, and difficulties in adopting emerging technologies, which hinder their growth and sustainability. This study aims to explore the role of innovative entrepreneurship and technology in enhancing SMME performance. Through a systematic literature review and thematic analysis, the research identifies twelve key themes that underscore how innovative entrepreneurship can drive adaptability, improve operational efficiency, and facilitate market access. Findings indicate that innovative business models and practices are essential for SMMEs to overcome financial and operational barriers, enabling them to respond effectively to market demands. The study recommends that the South African government and private sector collaborate to enhance financial accessibility, develop targeted training programmes, and improve infrastructure. By fostering a supportive environment for innovative entrepreneurship, SMMEs can leverage emerging technologies more effectively, ultimately driving economic growth and social development in the country.

High unemployment levels means that graduates are now encouraged to consider entrepreneurship as a career, and it is necessary to understand how entrepreneurship education influences their career choices. We investigated the relationship between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial intentions of business management students at selected Universities of Technology (UoT) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.  We used quantitative research questionnaire to survey the entrepreneurial intentions and skills of students of 224 students enrolled in business courses and had completed a module in entrepreneurship at undergraduate level. Regression analysis of entrepreneurial education variables and entrepreneurial intention was conducted. The findings of this study indicated that Entrepreneurial intention is positively affected by entrepreneurial skills, creativity, leadership, and business experience but negatively by financial knowledge. These results show that while higher levels of financial knowledge have a negative impact on entrepreneurial intention of business students. Therefore, the university curriculum must cultivate traits like resourcefulness, leadership, and ambition which encourages beneficial outcomes of entrepreneurial intention amongst students.