TITLE:
Managerial Competence Impact of Small, Medium and Micro Entrepreneurs on Sustainable Economic Development in eThekwini Municipal Area
AUTHORS:
Sijuwade Adedayo Ogunsola, Nobubele Potwana, Felix Chikosha
KEYWORDS:
Competence, Entrepreneurs, Sustainable Development, Municipality
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.10 No.7,
July
28,
2023
ABSTRACT: Sustainable development in this contemporary world has been of much concern, with the occurrence noticed in entire aspects of human endeavour. To determine the magnitude through which the competence of entrepreneurs can influence sustainable economic development, the competence of SMME managers and operatives was evaluated in the eThekwini Municipal Area of KwaZulu-Natal, to ascertain how well they can make use of the resources available adeptly to certify their businesses impact sustainable development positively. Based on the context of knowledge management and human behaviour concepts, the research design implemented for this study is descriptive and quantitative. A probability sampling design was applied to afford SMMEs in eThekwini Municipality the equivalent opportunity of selection, with data accumulated from 229 SMMEs, selected via simple random sampling and a structured questionnaire. In addition to descriptive and inferential statistics, measures of central tendency and dispersion were employed to present the collected data with a wider range of assessments. In the aspect of inferential statistics, T-tests and analyses of variance (ANOVA) were applied to evaluate elicited information to validate results from the observed data. The significant discoveries of this study were that the entrepreneurs referred to knowledge, skills, value judgments, and behavioural characteristics, along with social networks as decisive components in operating a thriving enterprise, regardless of size. The alarming issue that has become obvious from the response of the participants was that entrepreneurs were incapable of spotting business opportunities around them. Nevertheless, some entrepreneurs care for their environments through their operations, providing jobs to the needy to reduce the rate of joblessness, and poverty, and contribute to the growth of other community programs.