Skills and Youth Entrepreneurship in Africa: Analysis with Evidence from Swaziland

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. UNU-WIDER gratefully acknowledges the financial contributions to the research programme from the governments of Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Terms of use: Documents inThe World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) was established by the United Nations University (UNU) as its first research and training centre and started work in Helsinki, Finland in 1985. The Institute undertakes applied research and policy analysis on structural changes affecting the developing and transitional economies, provides a forum for the advocacy of policies leading to robust, equitable and environmentally sustainable growth, and promotes capacity strengthening and training in the field of economic and social policy-making. Work is carried out by staff researchers and visiting scholars in Helsinki and through networks of collaborating scholars and institutions around the world.UNU-WIDER, Katajanokanlaituri 6 B, 00160 Helsinki, Finland, wider.unu.eduThe views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s). Publication does not imply endorsement by the Institute or the United Nations University, nor by the programme/project sponsors, of any of the views expressed. Abstract:The shortages of entrepreneurial skills have lowered search effectiveness of potential young entrepreneurs and the rate of youth start-ups. Our paper contributes to closing the gap in the entrepreneurship and development literature with a model of costly firm creation and skill differences between young and adult entrepreneurs. The model shows that for young entrepreneurs facing high costs of searching for business opportunities, support for training is more effective in stimulating productive start-ups than subsidies. The case for interventions targeted at youth rises in societies with high costs of youth unemployment. We test the role of skills and training for productive youth entrepreneurship on data from a recent survey of entrepreneurs in Swaziland.

Gender, entrepreneurial characteristics, and success: Evidence from Ethiopia

“…Compared to Western societies, social norms and customs in many emerging nations discriminate against women (Ghosh & Cheruvalath, ) and limit their opportunities for education and skills development. For young African entrepreneurs looking for business opportunities, possessing the required technical and managerial skills is critical for success, and the benefit of providing relevant training to prospective entrepreneurs outweighs that of giving them financial subsidies (Brixiova, Ncube, & Bicaba, ; Sackey, Faltholm, & Ylenenpaa, ). In a study that compared success factors and problems faced by entrepreneurs in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria, Benzing and Chu () found that having managerial and customer service skills was critical for success.…”

An Analysis of the Determinants of Youth Employment in Rwanda

“…The benefits of TVET in terms of earning and social promotion vary across countries and influence its attractiveness. Brixiová et al, (2014) researched youth employment in Africa and came up with new evidence on the effects of policies in Swaziland during 2007-2010. They carried out a multinomial logit regression analysis to analyze the socioeconomic drivers of the unfavorable youth labor market outcomes on the supply side.…”

Entrepreneurship, gender gap and developing economies: the case of post-apartheid South Africa

“…In the context of Africa, educational attainment, perceived knowledge and skills and opportunity recognition skills are more likely to facilitate entry into entrepreneurial activity (Brixiová, et al, 2015;Cetindamar et al, 2012). SA serves as unique exemplar with resources that are not possessed by many countries.…”

“…African countries are increasingly recognising entrepreneurship as a vehicle their citizen can use to create jobs, foster economic development and growth while reducing poverty (Amin, 2010;Brixiová et al, 2015). But, the disproportionate engagement in entrepreneurship activities between men and women in both developing and developed economies require investigating .…”