Social Entrepreneurship Opportunities to solve Youth unemployment in SSA.

Despite Sub-Saharan African youth demonstrating clear social entrepreneurial intention or practice, considerable barriers exist for social entrepreneurs starting and scaling their enterprises.  South Africa, just like other SSA countries, experiences significant obstacles to social entrepreneurs starting & scaling their enterprises, including lower personal investment funds & limited access to funding; inadequate professional management tools, information services, capacity & expertise; & the absence of credible mentorship opportunities & networks.

Further, the education system in SSA does not encourage most young people to develop the core skills needed to be successful entrepreneurs.  However, there is clear social entrepreneurial intention and practice despite these barriers among the youth.  The problem that needs to be addressed is to explore how best to support youth pursuing Social Entrepreneurship (SE) as a viable career path.  This problem affects SSA youth & tertiary students and the latent & current social entrepreneurs and broader communities.

This project explores the barriers that social entrepreneurs face and the opportunities available to them.  Furthermore, it explores the appetite for co-creating virtual and in-person education and training at tertiary and community levels.  Through exploration, barriers and opportunities will be understood and shared to develop a roadmap that will better support youth social entrepreneurship and the growth of social enterprise to deliver sustainable jobs and address wicked challenges of the focus countries and wider sub-Saharan Africa.

This project is a partnership between the University of the Free State, Glasgow Caledonian University, and Challenges Ghana.

We wish this project well as we unite to grow and innovate Africa for youth employment opportunities.

British Council – Innovation for African Universities Programme (IAU)

The British Council IAU program is implemented by the Centre of Excellence, a partnership between City, University of London, the University of Nairobi, and ChangeSchool UK.

The Programme comprises 24 UK universities, SSA universities, and entrepreneurial ecosystem organizations.  The programme is running in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana & South Africa.

We’re excited to partner with the British Council’s Innovation for African Universities programme.  We are looking forward to supporting and working with Sub-Saharan Africa’s entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem.

We’re looking forward to working in partnership with SYSE to exchange knowledge and ideas to strengthen the role of universities in entrepreneurship ecosystems.

To find out more: www.britishcouncil.org/education/he-science/news/entrepreneurship-projects-africa-have-been-announced

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