The contribution of youth entrepreneurship towards livelihoods in the rural area of Ekulindeni, Mpumalanga province.

Abstract

The gap between urban and rural areas has continued to widen; those living in rural areas have not seen the benefits of a recovering economy like their urban counterparts. As a result, young people residing in rural areas are affected by various developmental issues that keep them in a disadvantaged state in comparison to the youth in urban areas. Some developmental issues include scarcity of well-paying jobs in different fields, lack of access to training opportunities, and advancement in formal education. Under these conditions, youth entrepreneurship can play a role as a means of improving rural livelihoods. Considering this, this study investigated youth entrepreneurship's contribution to livelihoods in rural communities. Semi-structured interviews were used in the study to collect data from the participants using qualitative research methodology. A purposive sampling strategy was employed to choose 25 business owners who lived in the rural area of Ekulindeni, Mpumalanga, in South Africa. The study was framed around the sustainable livelihoods approach, which explores the contribution of youth entrepreneurship to livelihoods. The study’s conclusions demonstrated that being an entrepreneur involves more than just establishing an enterprise. Nonetheless, entrepreneurship is defined as using the resources at hand to produce something novel, accepting the associated risks on a personal, professional, emotional, and societal level, and reaping the benefits. The study also found that youth entrepreneurs have better chances of improving the livelihoods of the poor than many other initiatives because of their familiarity with the local situation and their typical knowledge of the low-income environments in which they live. Thus, youth entrepreneurship has been identified to play a contributory role in economic development, as well as in improving people’s quality of life. Hence, the study calls for local authorities and community members worldwide to realize youth entrepreneurship as a viable means of promoting prosperity and regional growth of rural communities in contemporary society.