It has been more than three years since the coronavirus-related lockdown happened in South Africa. Hence, in the first session of the Women's Month webinar series, we will primarily focus on examining the state of the economy, by looking at macroeconomic indicators (e.g. inflation rate, real GDP growth, repo rate), non-income welfare by gender, key labour market indicators, main challenges faced by formal and informal sector entrepreneurs to sustain and grow their businesses with the aid of numerous data sources (e.g. Survey of Employers and Self-Employed, Finscope, World Bank Enterprise Survey), and how South Africa compares with other countries in some international indices (e.g. Doing Business Index, Global Competitiveness Index), before we discuss the possible solutions for entrepreneurs to sustain and grow their businesses. Findings by gender are derived, if possible.