Building an entrepreneurial mindset through coaching: a case of the unemployed in Mataffin, South Africa

Abstract

This study explored how coaching can help build the unemployed entrepreneurial mindset in Mataffin, South Africa. The unemployed have, since 2003, owned several valuable assets, such as farms, orchards, buildings, and land with infrastructure, but they remained poor and unemployed; the needed change was unlocking the potential that lay within them. This qualitative study explored how coaching can help build the unemployed entrepreneurial mindset in Mataffin, South Africa. This study was about enhancing the participants’ behaviour to acquire the necessary resources for a successful entrepreneurial mindset to achieve their objectives. A qualitative approach was used to explore and understand the participants’ experiences. The semi-structured interview method was applied, the researcher set the topics' outline covered to this study, the participants set the agenda, which directed the coaching. The audio file recordings were transcribed; they were used for the data analysis to generate code categories grouped into themes. The findings’ discussion was based on the themes that emerged from the pre-and post-in-depth interviews. The themes were Employment seeking opportunities, community challenges, Entrepreneurial opportunities/mindset and lessons learned by the participants. The findings were based on the coaching benefits in building entrepreneurial mindsets. Clients were introduced to coaching because they wanted their lives to change. The participants were encouraged to be coached to bring about positive changes in their lives. Key findings were that the participants were stuck pre-coaching; they had never thought of alternative ways to generate an income. Only post-coaching were they aware of other income generation methods, such as self-employment, and they opened to entrepreneurial opportunities as they started to apply entrepreneurial mindsets