Upskilling Graduates and Young Professionals Through Entrepreneurship Programmes in South Africa

Introduction

In the prevalence of youth unemployment, entrepreneurship has become a panacea. In Africa, particularly in South Africa, young people are disillusioned with no or limited prospects for securing sustainable job opportunities for themselves (Honwana, 2013; Tshishonga, 2019). The reality is that young people have been at the forefront for the liberation struggles which culminated into dismantling colonial and apartheid regimes in Africa. Their involvement did not only deprive them of their youth, but also denied them golden opportunities to advance themselves in areas of education, economics, welfare and entrepreneurship. Thus, political exclusion, which occurred during the apartheid era closed the doors for youth to engage in the economic opportunities in the democratic dispensation. It is therefore not surprising that the advent of democracy in Africa and in particular South Africa, policies and programmes have been developed with the primary aim of restoring young people’s dignity and advancement of their socio-economic development. Despite these policies, youth are still among the most deprived, excluded and marginalized socially, politically and economically. Among this cohort of population, youth exclusion and marginalization manifest itself through growing poverty, unemployment, lack of educational and economic opportunities for them to lead decent lives (Netshitenzhe, 2021). Hicks & Buccus (2016) reiterated this by stating that youth population is characterized by unemployment, poor education and unsettling sense of discontent. The paradox is that nations often hail youth as the cream or the future of the nation while at the same time perpetuating anti-youth tendencies and behaviours that impede their development towards being responsible and full citizens. The disturbing reality is that the existing political opportunity structures and participation of young people have not translated into economic opportunity for them to unlock their potential (Sika, 2017). These anti-youth development tendencies and behaviors further aggravate youth underdevelopment and marginalization.

It is against this background that this chapter provides a critical evaluation of youth entrepreneurship programmes designed to upskill and socialize both the graduates and young professionals in the world of work. This chapter, therefore, argues that for youth (graduates) to escape the scourge of unemployment, exclusion and marginalisation, entrepreneurship coaching and mentoring as well as entrepreneurial education and mind-set is imperative. The quest for skilled and innovative young workforce, led the South African government to introduce various programmes directed at upskilling and training youth and graduates. Fundamental to these programme interventions is the exposure to skills set and environment that nurture innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. This chapter used existing youth entrepreneurial related programmes to showcase the potential of young people’s ability to address the prevailing challenges of young unemployment and un-employability. Selected programme interventions are assessed using a) fostering the entrepreneurship mind-set, b) job creation, c) acquisition of entrepreneurial and management skills as well as the creation of innovative and entrepreneurial businesses. The chapter found that with progressive policy support, skills and mentoring programmes, young people are able not only to create self-employment, but also emerge as drivers of innovative entrepreneurial programmes. Thus, without requisite skills and access to the market, youth will continue to exist in the periphery of the mainstream economy. Secondary sources were used to analyse the opportunities and challenges faced by youth entrepreneurship programmes in South Africa. The chapter made use of youth programmes as the study methodology to extract and analyse the potential of youth entrepreneurship programmes in upskilling and socializing both the graduates and young professionals to the world of work.