STEVEN ZWANE | Young entrepreneurs learn resilience through real-world business trials

Share current article via EmailShare current article via FacebookShare current article via TwitterShare current article via LinkedInSowetan Contributor Guest Author

ExpandThe Isiqalo Youth Fund seeks to assist young entrepreneurs. A teenager approaches a customer, explains her product and waits. The answer is no. Then another customer says no. And another.

At the Youth Leadership & Entrepreneurship Development (YLED) graduation on October 17, one learner told us the rejection had made her want to stop selling.

Then her mother said something that changed how she saw it: a customer declining a product is not a judgment of her worth.

That is enterprise education in a single sentence. Hearing “no”, working out what it means and deciding what to do next is business. It is also growing up.

Yet we ask young people to carry far more than that. More than 60% of South Africans aged 15 to 24 are unemployed, according to Stats SA.

From podiums and policy documents, we tell them to be innovative and resilient and to create jobs. We rarely ask who is giving them somewhere to practise.

As YLED, I have spent 22 years trying to build that place. This year’s three learner-run businesses show what it involves.

One team found that a product could attract interest in market research and still sell badly. Another had to answer customers’ complaints about quality. Others wrestled with excess stock, pricing, production delays and a colleague who did not deliver.

These were small enterprises, but the stakes were real. Money had to be accounted for. Customers expected value. Teammates depended on one another. A business plan meant something different when stock sat unsold.

One learner wrote in a reflection after the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge: “Before YEC I did not know how to calculate real profit.” A concept becomes useful when it is applied to money you are responsible for. So do teamwork, planning and accountability.

This matters beyond business. The learner who becomes an engineer, a teacher, an accountant or a public servant will also need to understand problems, work with others, use resources responsibly and act when the answer is uncertain.

The feedback gives encouraging signals. Of 40 learners who answered a post-programme question, 90% agreed or strongly agreed that YLED had made them better leaders. Of 40 who answered another, 95% said they were likely or very likely to start a business.

I treat these as what they are: perceptions and intentions. They do not prove that businesses will be created, that jobs will follow or that the programme caused the change. Those questions need follow-up, and we are doing it.

We must take learners’ criticism just as seriously. Alongside stories of growth, some described pressure, difficulty being heard and concern about how leadership roles were allocated. Others wanted clearer financial guidance, more practical preparation and better access to support.

I regard that as a duty, not an inconvenience. We cannot ask young people to reflect honestly on their decisions while shielding our own from scrutiny. A demanding experience is not the same as one in which a learner feels unable to speak.

So what should schools, business and funders do?

That last question is one every organisation serving young people should be able to answer.

The learner who hears “no” needs help deciding what happens next. Should she explain the product differently, reconsider the price, improve the offer or find another customer? Learning to make that call is where enterprise begins.

Before we ask young people to create jobs, let us give them room to practise and the humility to learn from them.

Would you like to comment on this article?Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.