As Youth Month draws to a close, the call for young South Africans to embrace entrepreneurship grows louder. But what barriers do they face, and how can we ensure their success?
Image: Supplied
As Youth Month draws to a close, South Africans have once again heard familiar refrains: government will not create jobs, and young people must instead seize opportunities in entrepreneurship.
We have also grown accustomed to the equally familiar assertion that the youth are the future of the country. Even youth unemployment statistics, however alarming, no longer seem to provoke the level of urgency they should.
Yet the reality is that the economic exclusion facing young South Africans is neither new nor poorly understood.
Government, the private sector, development institutions, and entrepreneurship support organisations have all recognised the urgency of addressing youth unemployment.
A range of programmes and interventions have been introduced over the years.
Yet despite these efforts, many young South Africans continue to face significant barriers to economic participation, raising important questions about how existing support mechanisms can become more coordinated, accessible, and responsive to the realities on the ground.
In many policy discussions, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises are positioned as a solution to South Africa's unemployment crisis.
There is merit in this view. Small businesses can and do create jobs, stimulate local economies, and expand pathways to ownership.
But it is unrealistic to expect MSMEs to rescue the country from stagnation while the foundation required for young entrepreneurs to start and grow sustainable businesses remains deeply compromised.
The problem is not a lack of resilience among young founders. The problem is that too many are being asked to build in conditions that are fundamentally hostile to enterprise.
Earlier this year, I met a woman from Khayelitsha who runs a pre-loved clothing business from a physical store.
She is resourceful, committed, and clearly entrepreneurial. Yet her business has almost no digital footprint, not because she lacks ambition, but because visibility can come at a cost.
In the area where she operates, drawing too much attention to a business can expose the owner to criminal threats.
She told me that she had stopped recording her sales, despite knowing that tracking revenue is a basic part of running any business, because when criminals find evidence of income, they often demand a share of it. In that environment, growth is not simply about strategy. It is also about survival.
That example illustrates a broader truth. We cannot speak meaningfully about entrepreneurship without also confronting the conditions in which entrepreneurs are expected to operate. In many townships and rural communities, the barriers facing MSMEs extend far beyond access to finance. They include crime, weak infrastructure, unreliable logistics, and limited market access.
Across the country, many small businesses are producing quality goods and services in underserved communities, yet their customer base often remains geographically constrained.
With the collapse of the Post Office, founders who secure customers outside their immediate area must rely on private courier services concentrated in urban centres and economic hubs.
The cost and effort required to access those services can significantly erode already thin margins. At the same time, an unreliable public transport system makes something as basic as meeting clients unnecessarily difficult, consuming both time and money, two resources most early-stage businesses cannot afford to waste.
Government may reasonably point to Development Finance Institutions as part of the support architecture available to entrepreneurs.
In principle, and increasingly in practice, these institutions exist to expand access to funding and help businesses grow.
Strengthening communication around application processes, timelines, and funding outcomes would go a long way in building confidence among young founders and ensuring that more of them are able to access and benefit from the support that exists.
Access to opportunity is also shaped by access to information, and in many parts of South Africa that access remains deeply unequal.
Information about programmes, support schemes, and economic opportunities does not always reach the young people who need it most.
This is especially true where affordable data remains out of reach and institutional communication channels fail to penetrate local communities.
It is therefore not enough for government to say that opportunities exist for young people. Opportunity is only meaningful when it is accessible.
If unemployed youth cannot reliably access the information, transport, safety, and support systems required to pursue those opportunities, then the promise remains largely theoretical.
A house built on a weak foundation will not withstand pressure.
The same is true of entrepreneurship.
MSMEs cannot be expected to carry the weight of economic renewal if the environment in which they operate remains unstable, exclusionary, and in some cases dangerous.
If South Africa is serious about youth entrepreneurship, government, the private sector, development finance institutions, and support organisations must continue working together to strengthen the foundations of economic access, not as a future aspiration, but as an immediate and shared priority.
Khwezi Jackson, Business & Partnerships Manager at 22 On Sloane.
Khwezi Jackson, Business & Partnerships Manager at 22 On Sloane.
Image: Supplied.
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