Evaluating South Africa’s tech-entrepreneurship programme for venture creation through the eyes of the participants

Abstract

Policymakers in many countries have lit on tech-entrepreneurship as an essential element for economic development. To this end, South Africa’s Technology Innovation Agency, with co-sponsorship from the Swiss–South African Joint Research Programme, has run a cross-country tech-entrepreneurial training programme for local tech-entrepreneurs since 2010. This study reviews participants’ assessment of the training programme utilizing the Tech-Entrepreneurship Survey of 2016, designed and administered by the authors. From analysis of the participants’ rich feedback on their motivations for enrolment, the quality of training received and the strengths and weaknesses of the programme, clear indications emerge of what worked and what did not work. This enables the identification of focus areas for tech-entrepreneurship programme owners and policymakers in pursuit of tech-entrepreneurship expansion.