The study examines relationship between culture and business performance using 500 SMMEs in Gauteng province, South Africa. South Africa's low ranking in terms of global competitiveness is a source of national concern. This means that South Africa has the smallest proportion of entrepreneurs compared with other developing countries. This is a problem in a country where entrepreneurial ventures account for one-third of total employment. There is a need to find out to what extent the entrepreneurial start-up factor (culture) affects the performance of a business. Questionnaire is used to collect data from 500 SMMEs owners. Probability sampling is used to ensure that each member of the SMME population was given a known non-zero chance of selection. Simple random sampling was utilized to identify the respondents. The findings from the survey are modelled through a categorical regression model with business performance as dependent variable. The level of significance of the sixteen variables out of twenty five variables suggests that culture is classified as the strongest predictor of business performance. These findings, depicting the magnitude of the business environment in the study area, clearly confirm the positive impact of culture on business performance. © Simon Radipere, 2014.