With South Africa’s unemployment rate at a high of 33.5% as of Q2 2024, enterprise development is essential for creating new job opportunities. Youth unemployment is particularly severe, standing at an alarming 60.8% for those aged between15-24. By fostering entrepreneurship, more jobs can be created, reducing the overall unemployment rate.
Enterprise development involves investing in and supporting small and medium enterprises to help them grow and compete in the economy. This can include providing financial support, mentorship, training, and creating business networking. The goal is to improve the sustainability and competitiveness of these enterprises, ultimately leading to positive societal change and a drop in the unemployment rate.
The importance of Enterprise Development in South Africa is crucial for several reasons:
- Economic Growth: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute significantly to the economy. They account for about 34% of South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employ around 60% of the labour force. The country can stimulate economic growth and innovation by supporting these initiatives to create opportunities for unemployed youth in South Africa.
- Job Creation: Fostering entrepreneurship can create more jobs and reduce the overall unemployment rate in this age group.
- Poverty Reduction: Enterprise development helps in reducing poverty by providing income-generating opportunities. It empowers individuals to start their own businesses, improving their living standards and contributing to community development.
- Skills Development: Through enterprise development programmes, young entrepreneurs gain valuable skills and knowledge. This not only helps them run their businesses more effectively but also enhances their employability in the broader job market.
Summit considers the following factors to ensure effective strategies with our clients to address youth unemployment through enterprise development:
- Training and Education
o Entrepreneurship Programmes: Implement training programmes such as the QCTO New Venture Skills Programme , which provides young people with essential business skills, such as financial management, marketing, and strategic planning.
- Access to Finance
o Microloans and Grants: Establish funding mechanisms, e.g. loans, and grants specifically targeted at young entrepreneurs to assist them in starting and growing their businesses.
o Co-funding Platforms: Summit encourages co-funding platforms to provide young, unemployed South Africans with the opportunity to learn basic entrepreneurship skills. - Supportive Infrastructure
o Business Incubators and Accelerators: These venues make accessing open resources, office space, and networking opportunities easier.
o Technology Access: Ensure young entrepreneurs can access the latest technology and reliable internet to compete in the digital economy. - Regulatory Support
Simplified Processes: Summit can assist in simplifying the regulatory processes for starting and running a business, making it easier for young entrepreneurs to navigate. We specifically focus on helping young entrepreneurs with company registrations through CIPC, obtaining VAT and BBBEE certificates, and offering a range of tax and financial products in the market. - Public-Private Partnerships
o Corporate Involvement: To encourage large corporations to invest in youth entrepreneurship through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
o Government Programmes: To encourage the government to develop programmes that provide ongoing support and resources for young entrepreneurs.
Summit’s Approach to Engagement
Summit offers a turnkey solution to drive an Enterprise Development philosophy to manage and track unemployed youth by providing an ecosystem that supports individuals seeking jobs for themselves and others.
Driven by the goal to reduce unemployment in South Africa through enterprise development, Summit offers comprehensive skills development solutions. These turnkey solutions are designed to meet the needs of unemployed youth and clients, focusing on small and medium enterprise development programmes supporting emerging markets and business bank clients. It includes training in the form of skills programmes, occupational programmes, coaching and mentoring, and education on how to run businesses sustainably.
The private sector has the potential to establish a pipeline for introducing new services or products. To scale this pipeline effectively, it is crucial to empower potential delivery partners, including last-mile delivery services, POS-based businesses, and personal shoppers through the enterprise development funding ecosystem.
The ED Funding Ecosystem
Summit supports through:
- Training: The necessary training, including the new venture qualification for unemployed youth, can be financed by the relevant SETA or private sector funding.
- Revenue Streams: Partnerships within the private sector can create opportunities for revenue streams, which can come from Flash Point of Sales or personal shopper agreements and tools.
These funding components can be tracked by:
- Tracking the progression of participants through enterprise development stages.
- Providing a complete governance overview in real-time.
- Remarketing and keeping entrepreneurs abreast of application opportunities.
- We offer supporting tools and services to help you progress to the next stage.
Contact us today to learn more about our philosophies and training solutions for Enterprise Development among South African Youth.