LYDIA ZINGONI AFRICA’S COMPETITIVE EDGE: WHAT IS OUR COMPETITIVE EDGE?
C
urrently South Africa has 18 million teenagers and from a population of 50 million this means that almost 45% of our population is in the teen bracket. As per the latest Quarterly Labour
Force Survey, almost three quarters (72%) of the unemployed population of 4.5 million people are younger than 25. Fewer than 50% of current matriculants will hold jobs before the age of 24. Public discourse has been dominated by discussions of this spiralling youth unemployment crisis, yet government intervention has been slow and perhaps not out of choice, but due to lack of credible partners to implement policies and interventions on the
ground. As a part
of an ongoing drive to present government with solutions to this crisis, the SA Teen Entrepreneur Foundation is proposing a deliberate intervention to increase the facilitation of teen innovation and entrepreneurship as a means of bringing more young people into the economy.
According to Youth Business International, running a business helps young people achieve economic independence, reducing their reliance on state welfare. Young entrepreneurs are more likely to engage in their local community, spreading their experience and energy, and creating additional jobs and new inventions. In both developed and developing counties, the small business sector is regarded as the driving force of economic growth, innovation and job creation. South
12 Management Today | September 2012
Africa and the rest of Africa can benefit from this, but only by starting today to encourage its young people into mainstream economic participation. Gone are the days when university education guaranteed you a job. It is in times like these that countries have to think strategically with the resources they have. The South Africa National 2030 Development Plan states that South Africa through various incentives will create 5 million jobs. If we are not going to seed a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in our very young people, then this anticipated result will elude us.
It is clear that if we are to see a significant dent in youth unemployment, we need to both encourage existing businesses to give opportunities to young people, as well as create an environment in which young people are encouraged and supported in developing new innovation and creating job-creating enterprises.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2010 report indicates that the Total Entrepreneurship Activity (TEA) for South Africa is ranked 27 out of 59 countries at 8.9%. The average for the countries surveyed is 11,9%.
The Innovation Journal
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