The perceived impact of youth entrepreneurship development programmes on entrepreneurial aspirations of the youth in Swaziland
Date
2018
Authors
Tfwala, Colisile Hloniphile
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Abstract
Swaziland is a small, landlocked country in Sub-Saharan Africa, with 79% of its population below the age of 35 years. The country has one of the highest youth unemployment in Africa and very slow economic growth. The Government of Swaziland believes that the above can be corrected by raising the Swazi youth’s entrepreneurial spirit through the use of Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (YEDPs). Research shows that these programmes can only raise the entrepreneurial spirit by raising the youth’s entrepreneurial aspirations, which are: innovation, growth and internationalisation aspirations.
Swaziland has had three YEDPs in place for a long time. These YEDPs have never been evaluated to see if they raise the entrepreneurial aspirations or not. This study set out to evaluate these three YEDPs, by conducting a cross-sectional telephonic survey, using a structured adapted questionnaire. The data was collected from 492 of 1980 young people (25%), who have been trained by the three YEDPs since their inception. The data was then analysed. First, descriptive statistics were used to test the data for further statistical analysis. Thereafter non-parametric tests were used. A relationship was explored between the youth entrepreneurship development programmes and the youth entrepreneurial aspirations. The relationship was found to exist between one of the three programmes and entrepreneurial aspirations, as perceived by the youth entrepreneurs. The study then recommended that the YEDPs should improve their training on entrepreneurial aspirations and implementation of the best practices in the YEDP field. In addition, the Swazi Government, working with all stakeholders, which include the private sector, NGOs and the youth itself, needs to ensure that there is collaboration in putting in place an enabling environment. This is the only Swazi study which has evaluated largely unevaluated YEDPs to ascertain their contribution to raising the youth’s entrepreneurial aspirations or their entrepreneurial spirit, so it is important in contributing to the academic body of knowledge, as well as providing a basis for policy formulation in the country and in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Description
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce specialising in Entrepreneurship.
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Citation
Tfwala, Colisile Hloniphile (2018) The perceived impact of youth entrepreneurship development programmes on entrepreneurial aspirations of the youth in Swaziland, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/27153>