Challenges faced by minority technology entrepreneurs—women IT entrepreneurs in south africa post-apartheid era

We explore the challenges women technology entrepreneurs face in South Africa and the role of institutions and societies in contributing to and overcoming these challenges through the lens of Institutional theory. Focusing on IT as a masculine-labelled niche and women as a minority, this study evaluates the impacts of cognitive culture, normative factors, regulatory factors and individual factors on women in IT entrepreneurship. We believe the outcomes of this study provide an example of how reforms impact the backbone of every economy—entrepreneurship, especially in an era where IT has reduced, if not removed, business entry barriers.