The aim of this study is to empirically examine the relationships between the determinants of start-up SME success, namely start-up awareness and management skills, and the finance suppliers. This study has proposed a framework that improves the ability of start-up SMEs to access external finance. Through descriptive and inferential statistical analyses of data from a survey of a sample of SMEs in South Africa, it was ascertained that the framework which maps the entrepreneur’s start-up awareness and requisite management skills with the finance providers’ requirements will make up a tool to assist start-up SMEs in developing optimal financing options to grow their businesses.

This study aims to experimentally analyse how start-up awareness, management skills, and financial providers’ requirements relate to the key drivers of business success. A framework has been developed to increase start-ups’ capacity to obtain external financing (Bamata, 2019). Data were collected by a simple random sample from a survey of 253 SMEs in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Data analyses from the questionnaire using the statistical program SmartPLS were carried out utilizing descriptive and inferential analyses and structural equation modelling. It was shown that start-up awareness and management skills positively affect SMEs’ access to government, corporate, and personal/social sources of financing. Seven hypothetical connections were evaluated, and the results were obtained. The suggested framework maps the entrepreneurial awareness and management abilities of a start-up entrepreneur with funding provider needs and gives an idea of the type and optimum funding choices to be applied for the company (Bamata, Govender, & Fields, 2019). By utilising this framework, SME owner-managers would become aware of their financing needs and be ready to choose the most suitable source of external finance.