Abstract
This chapter interrogates the notion of youth entrepreneurship and leadership as the pathway towards dealing with youth poverty and unemployment in the context of South Africa. Entrepreneurship is gaining currency as one of the panacea for youth unemployment and underemployment within the government cycles and youth-orientated organizations. For youth entrepreneurship and leadership interventions to yield desired results, young people should master technology and be innovative in developing and growing sustainable businesses. It is against this that this chapter argues that through entrepreneurial mind-set together with innovative skills and competencies as well as financial and infrastructural support, young people could make a dent on existing poverty and unemployment challenges. Youth entrepreneurial organizations and projects are used to demonstrate the opportunities and challenges of using youth entrepreneurship as one of the pathways to deal with poverty and unemployment in South Africa.
TopIntroduction
Since the dawn of democracy, various policy and programme interventions were experimented in an attempt to rehabilitate young people into the democratic norms of society. Youth designated institutions such the National Development Youth Agency (NDYA) and the National Youth Service Programme (NYSP) were set up with the sole purpose of advocating youth development through harnessing the potential of young people (Mlatsheni, 2012). Outside government, various youth programmes such as Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, The Innovation Hub, The Start-Up Programme and Competition, eKasiLabs Innovation Centers and Youth Capital (Sibanda, 2021) aimed at skilling and reskilling thereby encouraging young people to start self-employment enterprises. Through such interventions, the development of youth led enterprises have become a key priority in addressing youth underemployment and underemployment. Against all odds, this chapter argues that entrepreneurial mind-set together with innovative skills, education and competencies as well as financial and infrastructural support could enable young people to curb existing poverty and unemployment challenges. Thus, for South Africa to address youth challenges such as the high unemployment rate, a lack of skills and improved employability needs to be dealt with, Mkasi & Tamukamoyo (2016, p. 18) argue that “credible and effective youth-focused institutions” are required.
It is against this background that this chapter interrogates the notion of youth entrepreneurship and leadership as the pathway towards dealing with youth poverty and unemployment in the context of South Africa. Within the government cycles and youth orientated organizations, entrepreneurship is gaining prominence as the panacea for youth unemployment and underemployment. The chapter commenced by laying the social-economic background of youth, goes to share the theoretical exposition of youth entrepreneurship and leadership, followed by the programmes of various youth entrepreneurial programmes. It further provides the critical analysis of the programmes in terms of their opportunities and challenges encountered by young entrepreneurs in their journey to address poverty and unemployment as key challenges. The chapter finally provides the future research direction and the conclusion.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Youth Unemployment: Youth unemployment is the unemployment of young people, aging between 18–35 years old. An unemployed person is defined as someone who does not have a job but is actively seeking work.
Entrepreneurial Mindset: An entrepreneurial mind-set is a set of skills that enable people to identify and make the most of opportunities, overcome and learn from setbacks, and succeed in a variety of settings.
Skills Development: An ability and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to carryout complex activities involving ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical skills), and/or people (interpersonal skills).
Youth Entrepreneurship: Practical application of enterprising qualities, such as initiative, innovation, creativity, and risk-taking into the work environment (either in self-employment or employment in small start-up firms).
Entrepreneurial Leadership: A mind-set that focuses organizations on turning problems into opportunities that create economic and social value.