HerVenture in South Africa
Our free business skills app HerVenture has supported almost 5,000 women entrepreneurs in South Africa to grow their businesses.

In South Africa, starting a business can be challenging, as the regulatory environment is complex and bureaucratic. In fact, the country ranks 139th out of 190 countries on ease of starting a business, according to The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) National Entrepreneurship Context Index. Formalisation of businesses can also be costly, resulting in a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises remaining informal.
For women in South Africa, business ownership is even more difficult and often less profitable. With sub-Saharan African economies losing an estimated $100 billion every year due to the labour market gender gap, supporting women entrepreneurs must be prioritised.
With support from our partners, DHL Express, the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) Entrepreneurship Development Academy and the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda), HerVenture has been available in South Africa since June 2021.
HerVenture is one of the Foundation’s five programmes. Through the app, women gain foundational business knowledge and skills, confidence and self-belief to start and grow businesses, support their entrepreneurial journeys and digitise their enterprises. HerVenture offers essential business training and support on the go, with learning tracks such as business resilience and e-commerce, which we developed with local partners to address the specific needs of South African women entrepreneurs.
HerVenture is data-light and can even be used offline, a key feature as smartphones and computers are commonly used in South Africa, but data is extremely expensive and electricity isn’t always accessible.
So far, almost 5,000 South African women entrepreneurs have used the app, which has led to fantastic outcomes:
Users in 2022
95% increased their business knowledge
96% implemented improved business practices
75% improved their business performance
HerVenture: a business skills learning app
HerVenture is one of the Foundation's five flagship programmes, which also include Road to Growth, Road to Leadership, Road to Finance and the Mentoring Women in Business programme. It provides women entrepreneurs of micro and small enterprises with the knowledge and skills to successfully grow their businesses.

Read stories from HerVenture users in South Africa...
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Lindiwe’s Story
Lindiwe Masango is an entrepreneur and HerVenture user from Pretoria, South Africa. She owns a mineral water business called Lee Ice Cubes.
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Mampho’s story
When Cape Town-based entrepreneur Mampho Sotshongaye thinks about the word HerVenture, she thinks “about a woman who is supporting another woman”. Here's how our app supported her...
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Hannah’s story
Hannah used our HerVenture app to get her Johannesburg beauty salon through the pandemic and get started towards achieving her dreams of expansion. Here's how HerVenture became her "survival kit"!
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