The perceived capability and willingness of South African small business owners to act as business mentors

Abstract

This study focuses on the capabilities and willingness of South African small business owners to act as business mentors. The literature study reveals that in order to perform the role and function of a successful business mentor, requires particular personal, relational and professional capabilities. Such capabilities should be viewed as an integrated whole. Willingness to act as a business mentor is influenced by a number of factors that need to be considered when deciding to perform such role. A questionnaire was used to field the perceptions of respondents regarding their business mentoring capabilities and willingness to mentor. Factor analysis was conducted and analysis of variance (ANOVA) performed to ascertain significant findings. The purpose of this study is to provide an opportunity for interested groups to utilise small business owners as a source of business mentors to assist and guide inexperienced entrepreneurs through the difficult process of starting and growing a business. Copyright 2011, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Esterhuyzen, E 2011, The perceived capability and willingness of South African small business owners to act as business mentors, MPhil dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-04112012-100729 / > F11/9/93/gm