Smith, Jocelyn Renee2019-11-252019-11-252018Smith, Jocelyn Renee (2018) Finding a space between poverty and high growth :a model for youth enterprise development in South Africa, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/28564>https://hdl.handle.net/10539/28564A 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 Management by Research and Dissertation, September 2018Interventions promoting youth entrepreneurship in South Africa assume there is a central role for entrepreneurship in confronting a range of development challenges. This research interrogates such assumptions and offers an alternate approach towards systemic interventions. A theoretical framework of transformative learning to negotiate challenges of liquid modernity underpins the study. A qualitative case study design, comprising 24 interviews conducted in 2014, explored two enterprise support programmes in Mpumalanga and Gauteng, each comprising a majority of youth under 35. Findings show how assumptions embedded in policies promoting youth entrepreneurship are paradoxical, contributing to their failure. Youth entrepreneurship can contribute strategies to help navigate effects of liquid modernity and develop know-how if perceived as niche activities, achieved with appropriate support. It is not for everybody. Possible niched approaches include structured ones for levels above subsistence, and effectuation for potential high-growth technology start-ups. Recognition that entrepreneurship development must help transform individuals underlies both.Online resource (253 leaves)enYouth--Employment--South AfricaEconomic development projects--South AfricaEntrepreneurship--South AfricaThesis