Why women- and youth-owned businesses need targeted support
Bizcommunity | 17.06.2026 16:10
Women and youth now drive a growing share of South Africa’s small and medium enterprise (SME) funding demand, making up 36.1% and 50.6% of applicants respectively according to a 2025 FinFind South Africa MSME Access to Finance Report. Unfortunately, the report also indicates that targeted financing solutions for these two groupings declined during the same period. Between 2018 and 2025, female-targeted funding actually decreased by 33%, while youth-targeted finance dropped by 15.4%.
