As part of the Motse Collective Impact Gathering 2025, attendees participated in a Masterclass titled “Generating Ecosystem Insights,” facilitated by Professor Isaac Khambule (Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropy South Africa/University of Johannesburg) and Dr Phumlani Nkontwana (Allan Gray Centre for Africa Entrepreneurship/University of Stellenbosch).
Designed as a highly interactive, practical session, the masterclass guided participants through the building blocks of a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem and introduced South Africa’s first provincial entrepreneurial ecosystem baseline – a new tool aimed at strengthening evidence-based decision-making across provinces.
The tool is based on Stam’s entrepreneurial ecosystem framework, created by Professor Isaac Khambule (Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropy South Africa/University of Johannesburg) and Dr Phumlani Nkontwana (Allan Gray Centre for Africa Entrepreneurship/University of Stellenbosch) who also facilitated the Masterclass.
Professor Erik Stam’s 10 Conditions of an entrepreneurial ecosystem
An entrepreneurial ecosystem is a place where people, conditions, and ideas collide, and where new possibilities begin. The facilitators grounded the session in Professor Erik Stam’s 10 Conditions of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, a practical framework widely used in policy, philanthropy, and development.
The ten conditions – Talent, Entrepreneurship Culture, Leadership, Intermediaries, Finance, Formal Institutions, Demand, Networks, New Knowledge, and Physical Infrastructure – explain critical factors that drive entrepreneurship in a particular region.
Stam’s model emphasises productive entrepreneurship: meaning ventures that create value, innovation, and meaningful jobs, rather than mere subsistence activity. Strong entrepreneurial outcomes emerge when the conditions of the ecosystem are coordinated, coherent, and supported by high-quality relationships.
South Africa’s first national ecosystem baseline
Prof Khambule and Dr Nkontwana introduced South Africa’s first provincial entrepreneurial ecosystem baseline, a pioneering data system tracking performance across all nine provinces.
For the first time, ecosystem builders can move beyond guesswork and outdated assumptions to make decisions grounded in real-time, evidence-based insights.
The baseline gathers data across all ten conditions – talent, finance, support organisations, infrastructure, leadership, and demand, while also incorporating broader economic indicators such as provincial GDP, employment patterns, migration flows, sector strengths, and informal and formal business activity.
Crucially, the baseline includes both formal and informal economies, acknowledging that some South Africans earn livelihoods outside traditional structures.
Dr Nkontwana explained that the data is securely stored in a Databricks warehouse and will be updated annually. Prof Khambule emphasised that the long-term aim is open access so that provinces, municipalities, ESOs, and partners can use the tool without needing consultants each time.
What provinces are experiencing
During the session, participants used a simple “robot system” – green (strong), amber (developing), red (weak) – to assess how their provinces perform across the ten conditions.
The exercise revealed clear patterns:
- Western Cape: Strong talent and innovation networks, but stark inequality.
- Mpumalanga: Solid schooling outcomes and now have a University to impact on the knowledge economy, but weak infrastructure and declining mining towns.
- Eastern Cape: High talent potential but poor internet access, low demand, and heavy reliance on grants in rural areas.
- Limpopo: Entrepreneurial energy and youthful talent contrasted by severe infrastructure gaps.
- KwaZulu-Natal: Strong public systems and uneven digital access.
- Free State & North West: High unemployment, weak support structures, and limited demand.
Across all provinces, four challenges were overwhelmingly consistent:
- Weak infrastructure
- Low demand
- Limited support organisations
- Leadership structures that do not work together
The role of the informal economy and the need for a shared language
With 89% of Africa’s employment based in the informal economy, ignoring this sector means ignoring the majority of entrepreneurs. The new baseline places the informal economy at the centre of its analysis.
Prof Isaac and Dr Phumlani also stressed the importance of a shared language. Ecosystem actors often use different words to describe the same issues. The 10 Conditions Framework provides a common vocabulary that helps government, funders, ESOs, researchers, and communities collaborate more effectively.
They encouraged provinces to identify one to three priority areas – a “triage” approach – ensuring that limited resources are used strategically and not diluted across too many objectives.
The Generating Ecosystem Insights Masterclass served as a powerful reminder: ecosystems are not built by documents or diagrams – they are built by people who listen, collaborate, and commit to shared progress.
The provincial baseline is an essential step toward creating an entrepreneurial landscape where every South African has a fair chance to build, innovate, and succeed.
Key insights:
-
Infrastructure and digital access:
South Africa “has more phones than access to water”, suggesting untapped digital entrepreneurship opportunities. -
Finance:
Less than 1% of funding is allocated toward Research & Development; the link between developing patents and turning them into commercially viable products remains weak. -
Innovation vs entrepreneurship:
These are distinct ecosystems that require different interventions. CSIR focuses on deep tech; DSBD focuses on small business support. -
GDP and sector composition:
Gauteng contributes 35% of the national GDP. Provinces where government is the largest employer tend to be the poorest, indicating a need for private-sector strengthening.
