In South Africa, where inflation reached 5% in June, rising transport and household costs are pushing many women to think differently about spending and earning. For many South African women, the decisions lead towards entrepreneurship. In 2023, 58.9% of women running informal businesses said unemployment was the main reason they had started, according to Statistics SA. Mastercard research found that 47% of surveyed South African women business owners were using AI regularly, with 63% reporting savings in time or money. The danger is that big business uses AI to deepen an advantage while small business confines it to administrative convenience.