Young Entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa
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Date
2017
Authors
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Publisher
Routledge
Abstract
Young people are highly visible throughout urban and rural areas of sub-Saharan
Africa, engaging in a wide range of income-generating
activities. Young women
operating from open-sided
shacks or tabletops can be seen selling a range of
goods from fruit and vegetables to cosmetics, and offering services such as plaiting
hair and sewing clothes. Young men more commonly deal in manufactured
goods, including electronic gadgets, and offer services such as car washing and
charging mobile phones, though they are also increasingly entering into former
female domains (Overå, 2007). These young people are predominant among the
“ordinary” entrepreneurs of the global South (Jeffrey & Dyson, 2013) proving
themselves skilful at finding economic niches, managing scarce resources, and
seizing profitable opportunities within constrained economic environments.
Economic restructuring and the transformation of labour markets have
resulted in limited employment opportunities for young people whose unemployment
rates can be two to three times higher than the norm (World Bank,
2012). Young people are often depicted as having become increasingly marginalised,
causing idleness and frustration which, it is believed, can lead to involvement
in crime, organised violence, and protests (Garcia & Fares, 2008; World
Bank, 2006, 2012).1 Consequently, entrepreneurship is increasingly being promoted
as a key tool to combat the youth unemployment crisis and as one of the
main drivers of economic and social transformation in sub-Saharan
Africa
(Africa Commission, 2009; World Bank, 2006). In light of their limited possibilities
to gain formal sector jobs in the public or private sector, young people are
being encouraged to be “job creators” rather than “job seekers”, thus becoming
self-employed
“entrepreneurs” (Langevang & Gough, 2012).
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Citation
V Gough, K., & Langevang, T. (2017). Young entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa (p. 272). Taylor & Francis.