Challenges Facing Small Black Business in Securing Viable Contracts

The Black ENTERPRISE SECTOR in South Africa has, despite a long history of exclusion and restriction, substantial potential to help distribute employment, income, and wealth more equitably between whites and blacks. This report summarizes research on the subject and attempts to evaluate realistically the potential role that small black enterprise can play in this effort. It also examines the challenges and constraints that face small black businesses. South Africa's small black business is highly constrained by the restrictions that apartheid placed on the establishment of businesses, on the opportunities for skilled employment, and on the educational opportunities for blacks as well as by the restrictions affecting the spatial arrangement of cities (Riley, 1993: ix).