Entrepreneurship the Solution to Unemployment of Graduates?

BY: .

The gap between the high rate of unemployed graduates and the lack of entrepreneurs in South Africa was highlighted at an entrepreneurship and innovation seminar hosted by the Westville campus branch of the Black Management Forum Student Chapter.

The objective of the seminar was to expose students to a new way of thinking about entrepreneurship being a solution to unemployment, highlighting best practice in entrepreneurship and tackling challenges faced by businesses.

Guest speakers were the Marketing Strategist at Dinu Afrika, Mr Sizwe Gumede; former ENACTUS UKZN President and WOMAP Development Co-founder, Mr Sethu Sidzamba, and IBV International Vaults founder, Mr Ashok Sewnarain.

In their addresses Gumede highlighted the point of knowing and positioning your brand well; Sidzamba emphasised the importance of starting small and going for businesses that solve problems with practical sustainability, while Sewnarain listed excellence in quality, service and value as the key factors to financial success.

Financial literacy and the importance of saving were issues of concern raised by the audience who highlighted that entrepreneurs found it difficult to obtain start-up capital for their business ventures. The advice given was that aspiring entrepreneurs needed to engage in extensive market research and a good proposal to boost investor confidence thus making capital easier to get.

Lulama Ngobese