The awareness of government support initiatives: a survey of retail and service SMMEs in Tshwane, South Africa

The South African government has realised that the development and growth of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) is vital for the economy through the creation  of suitable employment as well as promote innovative... [ view full abstract ]

The South African government has realised that the development and growth of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) is vital for the economy through the creation  of suitable employment as well as promote innovative products and services. The primary purpose of this paper is to assess the awareness levels and utilisation of government support initiatives among SMMEs owners or managers in Tshwane, a municipality situated in the Gauteng Province. Furthermore, the paper determines the category of services used by SMMEs including the media that attracted them to the government support initiatives. This study adopted the cross-sectional survey methodology with self-administered survey questionnaires as data collection instruments. The findings revealed that the awareness and utilisation levels of government support initiatives for SMMEs in Tshwane is extremely low. This reveals that public policy makers need to formulate attainable and sustainable solutions to promote these support services to aspiring, start-up and established SMMEs.