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In its fifth report, South Africa’s Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), published on 31 March 2020, called for institutions to carefully investigate undergraduate business education (curricula) after the business, economics, and management studies (in the Classification of Educational Subject Matter (CESM)) category presented the highest dropouts and lowest throughput rates. To understand the academic journey of entrepreneurship students, this study reviewed the literature through the lens of the General Systems Theory (GST), together with Tuckman’s (1999) Tripartite Model of Motivation for Achievement (TMMA). Accordingly, this study viewed the journey of students as a dynamic system with the students having some characteristics and motivations (inputs) when entering higher education, and what the higher education institutions should do (processes) to achieve improved academic performance (output) of students. From the literature reviewed, this study suggests the need to profile students based on their pre-enrolment information and capturing the perceptions of what they think influenced their academic performance in high school. Apart from this, the need to understand the entrepreneurial profile of students has been suggested considering the importance of entrepreneurship in employment creation, especially in South Africa, with an unemployment rate of 32.6%. Thus, it is necessary to produce graduates with the much-needed entrepreneurial capabilities in the South African economy.

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Purpose: Female entrepreneurship discourse continues to receive heightened attention owing to various factors including the value of their contribution to national socioeconomic development. While the patriarchal nature of African societies remains one of the major issues impacting female entrepreneurs, the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the situation, therefore necessitating research that addresses interventions. This study examined the challenges of female entrepreneurship before, during, and the post-Covid-19 prospects in South Africa. By examining these challenges, the study aimed to shed light on factors militating against the success of female entrepreneurship, including the Covid-19 era and proposed solutions to overcome some of the challenges. Design/methodology/approach: A descriptive literature review methodology was used to conduct this study. Findings: The findings indicate that numerous cultural, economic, and institutional factors militate against productive female entrepreneurship. In addition, the results show that while Covid-19 affected all types of firms, and female-led enterprises suffered the most. Female-owned enterprises suffered the most in terms of lost revenues, business closures, and women retreating to traditionally assigned roles as family caregivers. Research limitations/implications: Given that the pandemic resulted in some cases of business closures and scaling down operations, there is a need for targeted support efforts to resuscitate female entrepreneurs in the post-Covid-19 era. Thus, extensive government and institutional financial and non-financial support are needed for female entrepreneurs. Practical implications: The study contributes to the overall discourse on supporting women’s participation in economic activities through entrepreneurship. Originality/value: This paper is original Paper type: a Research Paper

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