ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT AS AN ENABLER FOR ADVANCING THE YOUTH IN SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is the backdrop of development, which is through the formal and informal economy. South Africa like many other African countries have a high unemployment rate which especially affects young people and has required them to pursue entrepreneurship to survive. High levels of entrepreneurship will thus translate into higher levels of economic development and growth in the macro and micro economy. It is critical for national ,and regional institutions and organizations to have progressive institutional and policy pathways in place to ensure that barriers of entry in the market are well regulated for competition is promoted through equal support and opportunities, entrepreneurs are nurtured as well as developed to enhance their knowledge and skills through entrepreneurship education, mentorship as well as linking them with leaders ofindustry to mention few. The rationale of the proposed manuscript to is to review entrepreneurship development in South Africa, which is an enabler for advancing youth development. The aim and objective is to analyse the current institutional and policy interventions in South Africa, in enabling entrepreneurship development for a sustained economy. The relevance of this manuscript in the Conference under Track 3 : Entrepreneurship, small business and the informal sector is that ,in order for the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to be realised in South Africa, there needs to be an enabling eco-system which supports entrepreneurship development, especially for Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) to address challenges such as weak entrepreneurial culture, lack of funding as well as access to markets, lack of infrastructure development to enable the movement of goods and services. The methodology will be through collecting secondary qualitative data. The research design will be descriptive, based on collecting data from case studies and official government records.