In 2017, South Africa's fragile economic situation got worse: April saw both Fitch and Standard & Poor downgrading the country's credit rating to 'junk' status. It's bad news that's come at a bad time. The downgrade could conceivably increase inflation and borrowing costs – and even cause the country's job market and economic growth to slow even further.

If you're an entrepreneur, or a would-be entrepreneur, this might sound like a daunting and perhaps outright hostile, environment. Nonetheless, South Africa needs small businesses and, even in the current economic context, entrepreneurs can prosper.

The state of South African entrepreneurship

That said, it won't necessarily be easy. The South African government enjoys talking about how much it values entrepreneurship, but the 2017 budget didn't contain any new tax incentives for businesses, and the new finance minister hasn't yet outlined a plan to introduce any. This is, to put it lightly, a mistake. The government ought to provide South African entrepreneurs with as many reasons to build a business as possible: existing programmes haven't delivered, and the lack of worthwhile tax breaks may put many off – or worse, send them overseas.

But if you can't rely on government aid, you may well be able to rely on the country's healthy entrepreneurial culture. A report from the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute (GEDI) indicated that, in terms of entrepreneurship, the nation is behind only Botswana on the continent, and roughly on par with other middle-income countries. It also suggests that South Africa offers better conditions for entrepreneurship than several nations with a higher per capita GDP – including Brazil, China, Russia, and Mexico.

The entrepreneurial ecosystem, relative to the economy, is very strong, and the report suggests that strategic improvements could make it even better. Helping novices learn the skills they need, opening up access to financial services, and making use of technology could prove a substantial boost to the small business market.

More incubators and accelerators can only help: there is, at present, only one in South Africa that turns a profit without grant funding – Allon Raiz's Raizcorp. Support and mentorship is as important to budding entrepreneurs as finance. If established and successful people start to offer all three, then the next generation of businesspeople – and the economy – will be better for it.

Becoming an entrepreneur

That said, actually becoming an entrepreneur requires you to vault several obstacles. More businesses fail than don't, and issues like finance remain omnipresent. Xero's State of SA Small Business 2016 report found that 27% of small business owners consider access to funding to be their biggest obstacle.

But in many respects, there's never been a better time to become an entrepreneur. You just need to find something that you can do better than anyone else. It doesn't need to be original or interesting: you just need to be able to make it some combination of better, faster, or cheaper than what the competition's offering. You also need to care about it to a ridiculous extent – to the point where you work 16 hours a day on it, and occasionally more.

Funding will always be an issue, but you'd be surprised how easy it is to start a small business if you emphasise the 'small' bit. Scaling down your company and focusing on building something with what you have is an excellent start. If you need more capital, it's generally better to save up, use credit cards, borrow money from family or seek investors from among your existing network than it is to secure outside finance: the smaller you stay, the lower your risk.

Technology can also lower expenses and help minimise financial burdens. Xero's research identified a vein of Luddism within the entrepreneurial community that will need to change: only 26% of those small business owners surveyed believe a PC to be an essential business tool. Making use of digital technologies such as cloud accounting software can help them become leaner and more efficient than they would be otherwise.

However you decide to go about entrepreneurship, don't be discouraged by market conditions. Per the GEDI report, more entrepreneurship might well improve them: if conditions for small business owners get better, another $176bn could be added to the South African economy.

Regardless, entrepreneurship will never be easy: whether through competition or logistics, starting a business will always be a considerable undertaking. Take the initiative and make the effort: you, and South Africa, may well be better off for it.

* By Marnus Broodryk, Shark Tank SA investor and CEO of The Beancounter, a Xero gold partner.