Young Entrepreneurs Foundation Help give our children a fighting chance

Youth unemployment, poverty alleviation and major socio-economic change can only be achieved if we establish an entrepreneurial culture in South Africa. BUT, despite investing billions of rands in entrepreneurship development programmes over the past three decades, South Africa’s early-stage entrepreneurial activity has declined to below pre-pandemic levels and is now one of the lowest among the 49 economies participating in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). Fewer people than ever before are considering starting new businesses, signaling a pressing need for change in how we approach entrepreneurial education.

CRITICAL REALISATIONS:

• Whatever our school system is doing is inadequate.
• We get the packaging wrong – we teach business acumen and wrap it up in so-called entrepreneurship education.
• We leave it too late.
• Successful business creation happens within a supportive ecosystem, not in isolation.
• The entrepreneurial mindset attributes that we instill corresponds with the Higher-Order Cognitive Skillsets that the WEF highlights as imperative for humans to have in order to co-exist with technology and automation within the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). In addition to new venture creation, these skills also enhance employability and workplace readiness.

Our Theory of Change is world class and aligned to international research and best practices.