The SME Survey 2014, an annual study of factors behind the success of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa, has found that a small business owned by a women has a better chance of being profitable than one run by a man. Equally surprising is that those companies owned by couples or a mix of genders are substantially less likely to be profitable than those operated by either male or female-owners. "While this result may seem like a big win for women, it comes with an immediate qualifier: the level of female ownership is exceptionally low," says Arthur Goldstuck, SME Survey principal researcher and MD of World Wide Worx.