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South African youth prefer to be entrepreneurs
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South African youth have developed an increased sense of entrepreneurship and would rather be self-employed than be in a formal job, a report by the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship reveals.
The Young Upstarts Report, released by the centre on Tuesday, said that 65% were keen to start their own businesses and of those, 19% had a business idea but were yet to do something with it.
Empowerment in the form of entrepreneurship development has been touted as the key to unlock the imbalances and the report indicated that the state of entrepreneurship in South Africa was yet to be fully explored.
Tracey Webster, the spokesperson for the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, said the centre was there to give direction and support to the start-ups.
“The Branson Centre can provide real support to young entrepreneurs through its development programme of practical business skills workshops, mentorship and access to business networks,” said Webster.
She further explained that the centre served young entrepreneurs who had taken the step to launch businesses but needed help growing them.
The research was conducted by Instant Grass, a youth insight company, and covered in-depth conversations between Instant Grass and its network of more than 100 “grasses” and a face-to-face quantitative survey of more than 800 young people, 16-35 years of age, in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
Another principal of the report, Dali Tembo, who is the senior brand strategist at Instant Grass, wants the government to play a watchdog role and facilitate growth of the enterprises.
“SA youth believe that the government should stick to funding the process and eliminating bureaucracy and corruption, while the private sector should focus on mentorship and skills,” Tembo said.
Tembo explained the respondents expected the transfer of mutual synergies between the government and private sector.
“In addition, the government and the private sector need to be careful to strike a balance between encouraging entrepreneurship and clearly educating young people on the hardships of starting a business,” he said.
South Africa’s early-stage entrepreneurial rate is 8.9%, significantly behind the average of 11.9% for other middle- to low-income countries.
With the unemployment rate among the employable black majority in the country hovering around 45%, many believe that there is an opportunity presented to address the challenges of job creation, economic growth, equity and eliminating poverty.
That could engage micro, small-, and medium-sized enterprises.
While poverty is not confined to any one racial grouping in South Africa, it is concentrated in the black African population.
This part of the population could benefit greatly, should the government take pointers from the Young Upstart Report.
Rob Stead, the chief executive of the South African Institute for Entrepreneurship, believes the economy had now placed entrepreneurship in a positive light.
Stead said that over the last five years politicians had taken a more constructive view of self-empowerment.
“In the past five years, entrepreneurship has moved from the periphery to the mainstream.
“Entrepreneurship has always been a useful rabbit for politicians and policymakers to pull out of the hat, when they are looking for some solutions to the economic challenges facing us in South Africa,” he said in an interview with The New Age.
The Young Upstarts Report also lamented the lack of relevant local role models and mentors to give young entrepreneurs practical guidance on being their own bosses.
Of the respondents, 52% did not identify any entrepreneur role models. However, among the 48% who did, the top 10 included Patrice Motsepe, Tokyo Sexwale and Raymond Ackerman, founder of supermarket chain Pick n Pay.
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