Youth entrepreneurial development

By The Standard and Newsday | Mar. 1, 2022 | 5 Min read

Collaborating across public, private and civil society sectors to provide young people with demand-driven sustainable and high quality projects which support entry into the workforce and business sector is key for sustainable youth empowerment and poverty alleviation.

IN the recent past, I have shared some ideas on how we need to focus on our youth since they make up the majority of our population (60%).

We cannot afford to continue to hope that things will change for them without deliberate policy interventions.

These policy interventions need to be sector-specific and must be implemented at provincial level to ensure inclusivity.

In addition to that, our youth need to take the lead in creating a better future they desire and deserve, but must collaborate and co-operate with those with access to resources.

So far, I have dealt with youth in agriculture, mining and ICT. This week I would like to talk about youth entrepreneurial development.

No doubt the informal economy has inadvertently created many entrepreneurs as formal jobs have become scarce and somewhat unattractive.

However, this has come with instability in incomes, general uncertainty and a survivalist attitude where most of our youth are merely selling finished goods to survive and not adding value at all.

Sadly, some have resorted to drug and alcohol abuse to mentally escape from reality. It is, therefore, not a sustainable scenario.

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What we must do, however, is to capture their entrepreneurial spirit, which has emerged over the last decade, and try and shape it in creating more sustainable solutions which can create consistent incomes, some stability and future wealth for our youths.

Youth entrepreneurial development seeks to improve employment entrepreneurship and civic engagement opportunities for the youth.

Young people are more likely to prefer self-employment than adults, but at the same time their rate of self-employment is much less.

This is accounted for by barriers related to lack of awareness, orientation of education and training, lack of experience, fewer financial resources, limited networks and market barriers.

It is, therefore, essential that we deliberately implement policies which deal with youth capacity building, support for employment and entrepreneurship education, practical skills training and access to finance.

In order to address youth unemployment, it is critical to support young people in creating own businesses. Most have the interest and potential to become self-employed.

Youth self-employment, entrepreneurship and business creation including innovative micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises are key to creating an inclusive economy and future economic growth.

Small businesses can also contribute to a significant part of GDP as in developed economies. Youth must, therefore, be encouraged to establish such businesses but there is need for the necessary support structures to be in place.

The knowledge required to be an entrepreneur is not only related to professional practice in running a business, but also to skills and attitudes, and to meta-qualities.

There is the risk of throwing money at youth, but this has not worked at all and I have said this before.

Youth need to be trained and mentored first and their business ventures evaluated for viability before being given money.

The key issues which limit growth of youth entrepreneurship include lack of awareness of potential for entrepreneurship among role models results in a lack of encouragement or even negative social attitudes; education and training programmes generally do not do enough to nurture entrepreneurial attitudes and skills; prior work and entrepreneurial experience is a major determinant of business start-up and entrepreneurial performance; fewer financial resources and difficulty obtaining external finance, including debt finance and private equity funds, hampers business start-up; limited business networks and business-related social capital have consequences for business start-up and obtaining legitimacy; and market barriers, including a bias in financial markets away from supporting youth-owned businesses and “discrimination” in product markets.

Fundamental action plans need to be made to make youth empowerment a reality. These include:

Promote ease of doing business for youth.

It must be made easier for youth to access new business opportunities within both the public and private sectors.

For example, a percentage of government tenders must be reserved only for youth.

The problem will always be political interference and patronage to government business. This needs to stop.

Establish a database and portal of youth in business per sector.

We do not have information to make effective informed policy interventions.

This fact was exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to know how many youth-owned businesses are out there and what sector they operate in and so forth.

Establish business partnerships among youth and established companies.

Established companies need to deliberately include youth in supply chains or value chains.

A percentage should be set aside for youth-owned businesses. In addition, barriers to entry should be removed.

Establish youth entrepreneurship development and start-up incubators.

Incubators are key for testing new ideas before they are taken to markets or before funds are committed.

Promote youth affirmative procurement both in public and private sectors.
Create youth entrepreneurial networks/forums. These should be at provincial level where youth in business are able to meet regularly, network and exchange new ideas and opportunities.

This will require commitment on the part of the youths themselves.

Encourage schools and employment services to promote and provide continued guidance on entrepreneurship and self-employment for young people.

It is best to identify entrepreneurs at a younger age and provide them with the necessary knowledge and tools to grow their talents.

Ensure greater availability of start-up support services.

Here we can have business hubs which provide back up and administrative services for youth-owned businesses.

Invest in youth-led businesses. This means that our pension funds and private equity funds must seek out and invest in youth-owned businesses.

The sovereign wealth fund could do this.

Of course not all that can be done but we need to start somewhere and be serious about it.

Our youth are not political or electioneering fodder.

We need to rescue their futures so that they have a stake in their own country instead of having to look for employment in other countries as is currently happening.

The solutions are there, we have them and all we need to do is implement them as a matter of urgency.

Youth are an asset, not a liability!