The informal economy plays an integral role in addressing the socioeconomic issues facing many nations around the world. Informal sector entrepreneurship activities contribute 10-20% of the GDP in developed economies and up to 60% in developing economies. In South Africa, the informal sector accounts for 15-17% of total employment and about 5.2% of the country's GDP. Yet, very little attention is given to how informal sector entrepreneurship shapes individual entrepreneurial orientation and the emergence of entrepreneurial leadership, and vice versa. The lack of attention to the notions of individual entrepreneurial orientation and the emergence of entrepreneurial leadership from the informal sector is worrisome given that a significant number of now successful entrepreneurs in African contexts began their business operations within the informal sector. This article presents a multilevel analysis of the emergence of entrepreneurial leadership in the informal sector of South Africa. We draw from "rags to riches" inspirational accounts and social identity theory to develop an integrative framework on the emergence of entrepreneurial leadership in the informal sector. Short case studies of successful entrepreneurial leaders who emerged from the informal sector are presented for illustrative purposes. This paper aims to provide valuable insights into one of the understudied but rapidly growing entrepreneurial contexts, informal sector entrepreneurship, and how this context shapes individual entrepreneurial orientation and the emergence of entrepreneurial leadership. This exposes a previously hidden territory for new insights and further studies on how to advance entrepreneurship development research and praxis.

Start-up SMEs are very important to employment creation, poverty alleviation and sustainable economic development of South Africa. One of the challenges facing start-ups is non-availability of debt financing. The government of South Africa has put in place various intervention efforts to improve access to debt finance by start-up SMEs. This study investigates empirically the effectiveness of Business Development Services providers (BDSs) in improving access to finance by start-up SMEs. Data was collected through the use of self-administered questionnaire. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis. The results indicate that most start-up SMEs are not aware of the programme. The results furthermore indicate that start-up SMEs that are aware and use the programme have improved access to debt finance. The recommendations focused on improving the awareness of the programme by start-up SMEs.

Increasing digitisation has put pressure on institutions of higher learning around the globe to find effective solutions to better prepare their students for the 21 st century world of work. The article presents the findings of a qualitative inquiry into the attitudes, feelings, and experiences of entrepreneurship students in a selected private institution of higher learning on the use of eportfolios as a tool to enhance the learning experience. Data was collected using a combination of focus groups and semi-structured interviews. A thematic analysis conducted for this study revealed five (5) emergent themes on the contributions of e-portfolios in enhancing the learning experiences of the modern-day scholar. The resourcefulness, flexibility, engagement, entrepreneurial skills improvement and collaboration emerged as the outstanding contributions of e-portfolios towards enhancing learning. The emergent themes are in line with the entrepreneurial behaviour, imperative for every 21 st century world of work. The value the findings of this study lies in its exploratory utility in exposing the lived-experiences, attitudes, and feelings of modern day students on the role of e-portfolios as a tool to enhance their learning experience and cultivate entrepreneurial behaviour in the modern world of work. Recommendations to explore the technological advantage presented by e-portfolios are presented.

The

Local economic development policies around the world increasingly emphasise entrepreneurship as a tool to mobilise local and indigenous economic potential. This paper explores the role of local municipalities in entrepreneurship development in South Africa. In particular, it provides a critical review of local economic development strategies and their effect on entrepreneurial development. Special attention is placed on deeply rural municipalities, primarily because of their marginalisation from national development efforts and the acute need for entrepreneurial development to tackle the triple challenges, which are unemployment, poverty and inequality. The paper argues that local municipalities should play a pivotal role in enhancing the development and upliftment of entrepreneurs in their areas of jurisdiction. The paper uses an integrative literature review method in which sources such as academic journal articles, reports and books are analysed, critiqued and synthesised. Lessons are drawn from other developed and developing nations, combined with the observations and thorough review of literature, to develop a framework that can inform South African Local Municipalities in mobilising entrepreneurship development in their communities. The paper concludes that for entrepreneurship development to be strengthened and for local economic development to be accomplished, local municipalities should invest in the development of entrepreneurship within their municipalities.