The youth unemployment crisis grows more acute every day. Young people are increasingly losing hope, self-belief and the ability to see a meaningful future for themselves, especially in rural/marginalised communities. Formal employment opportunities are rapidly declining, and the alternative narrative of entrepreneurship is often unrealistic and unrelatable. Many programmes to stimulate micro-enterprise and small business are typically based on formal business concepts, and focus on technical business training, most of which is intimidating and overwhelming, leading to disengagement and drop off.
Where entrepreneurial flair begins to emerge, it is often labelled as a ‘side hustle’ – how do we move these mindsets, skills and aptitudes from the ‘side’ to being front and centre; from the shadiness of the ‘hustle’ to being a respectable and legitimate path to building a livelihood. How do we stimulate and celebrate informal micro-enterprises without rushing to formalise and ‘scale’ them?
FURTHER was delighted to be contracted to explore some of these issues by YearBeyond, the highly respected Youth Service partnership between Government, the National Youth Development Agency, donors, and NGOs. Initiated in the Western Cape in 2014, with a growing footprint in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng, YearBeyond provides around 4,000 unemployed youth every year with meaningful work experience and a pathway to further studies or work, while at the same time encouraging a culture of community service. Recognising that there are not enough jobs for youth to pathway into, YearBeyond has begun exploring an alternative pathway for its YeBoneers who are exhibiting interest and aptitude for entrepreneurship as they leave the current programme.
FURTHER was commissioned to conduct a comprehensive mapping of the current ecosystem of support for youth micro-entrepreneurs and to develop a clear and actionable plan and recommendations on how to build and develop an entrepreneurial pathway for YearBeyond alumni and youth from similar contexts.
Through in-depth interviews with ecosystem experts, and collaborative focus groups of young people, the exploration found that while technical training and short-term entrepreneurship programmes exist, many fail to connect with young people’s lived realities. Common issues include:
- Language and cultural disconnects, with training that feels academic, intimidating, or irrelevant;
- Short-term, timebound programmes with no ongoing support; and
- Barriers to access, such as transport, unreliable connectivity and high data costs.
For most young people, starting a hustle from scratch is a blended journey of job-seeking, hustling and studying happening at the same time, with many of the critical skills needed being common for each path. It is important not to separate and stream self-employment vs employment too early, but rather provide support for all options to emerge, evolve and inter-change over time.
It was clear that the support ecosystem is dynamic and fluid and needs to be monitored and engaged with in real-time. Many programmes are time-specific, appear then disappear due to their own funding challenges; geographic footprints change and new digital resources come online – and disappear - regularly. Government sector resources exist but are difficult to find and access – they can also be intimidating and bureaucratic. For YearBeyond alumni, there is a need for on-going support & ‘inside knowledge’ to identify and navigate the relevant opportunities in the right place at the right time.
Another critical success factor is the motivation and inspiration that comes from relatable role models and near-peers who have started sustainable businesses, as well as a strong and supportive community to maintain resilience and wellbeing. It is essential to create platforms and channels to build community, profile role models, share success stories and lived experiences.
As a follow-on to the ecosystem mapping project, FURTHER was asked to join a team working on the rapid prototyping of a ‘live’ entrepreneurial challenge for 140 YeBoneers, as a parallel track to YearBeyond’s annual Social Innovation Leadership Challenge. FURTHER was responsible for the curriculum development, drawing on content and frameworks from partners such as Bertha Centre and CityYear, and delivered via Talent LMS. The challenge followed a Human Centred Design process of deep understanding of community needs and their root causes, rapid prototyping of solutions and in-market MVP testing, with every participant being asked to invest their daily stipend into their team’s ideas.
It has been a privilege for FURTHER to work alongside the incredible YearBeyond team, and to map out relevant and accessible pathways for young people to build livelihoods and become economically active; by doing this, we help young people grow the confidence, capabilities and self-belief to see a meaningful future for themselves.
