Entrepreneurship is a tool for people pursuing careers in business creation and other related fields . According to Toma, Grigore & Marinescu, University of Zululand, entrepreneurship as a discipline, generally considers how, why and when, opportunities are recognised, created and put to use. Thus, entrepreneurship is commonly considered as the 'discovery and exploitation of opportunities. In recent times, entrepreneurship and innovation seem to be the direction followed by different developed nations. For instance, the 2017 report of Global Entrepreneurship Index shows that the first ten well-performing nations in terms of entrepreneurship are developed nations (The Entrepreneurship and Development Institute, 2018). This gives a clue to the influence of entrepreneurship among other factors on the economic development and standard of developed nations across continents of the world. This process is described as productive entrepreneurship. However, when entrepreneurship makes entrepreneurs better and leaves the society in a worse state, it is described as unproductive and destructive entrepreneurship. Suffice to state that entrepreneurship can be 'productive' or 'destructive'. By extension, the form of entrepreneurship commonly practiced in developed nations of the world will be regarded as productive since it has contributed to enhancing the standard of the economy, whereas, the form of entrepreneurship practiced in many developing nations of the world may be considered as unproductive or destructive, because, it has left some societies worse off, yet enriching many entrepreneurs. On the other hand, rural environments are expected to be developed through various activities and policies made and implemented by the government. According to researchers, policies made and implemented by the government can help promote development in rural environments, thereby ensuring equity in the forms of development experienced in an entire nation. They further opine that the government most times establish institutions of learning such as: Formal schools, universities, industries, organizations, among others in strategic rural locations when there is need to develop such rural environment. It is expected that by so doing, many individuals within and around such rural communities are empowered.
According to Statistics South Africa (2017), the unemployment rate in South Africa is approximately 28%. Suffice to state that unemployment rate in South Africa in recent times seems to rank one of the highest across the African continent or Sub-Sahara countries, whereas, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation is higher than many other countries within the continent. This implies that the form of entrepreneurship experienced in a country as this may be described as being unproductive to the people. The study explores various ways by which entrepreneurship can be used to reduce or eradicate unemployment in the local environment and nation at large.
Factors that can favour or hinder entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education in South Africa
Several factors can promote or hinder the success of entrepreneurship in South Africa. Among these factors are:
Lack of Infrastructures and technological facilities: Infrastructures and technological facilities are needed in modern entrepreneurial practices. Thus, countries where state of the art infrastructures which can enhance certain entrepreneurial activities are lagging may be unable to promote entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship creates new technologies, hence the need arises for the entrepreneurs to be given the platforms and due support to access various forms of such technologies as may be demanded. Suffice to state that entrepreneurship may not easily thrive in a given society without the support of the government providing certain specific amenities to ensure adequate productivity by entrepreneurs.
Government Policies: Government Policies are crucial and important in determining the existence and survival of entrepreneurial business. This implies that an establishment may be unable to stand the test of time if the policies of the government are unfavourable. Hence, the government, besides providing the necessary facilities that can enhance productivity of entrepreneurs, is expected to encourage entrepreneurs through various policies that can ensure the viability of their business. Suffice to state that entrepreneurs can survive in business or collapse due to government policies. Thus, knowing the importance and level of productivity that can be realised within a society based on the activities of entrepreneurs, it is paramount that the government reviews its policies to be inviting and promote entrepreneurship.
Shortage of skills and experienced manpower: Shortage of skills and experienced manpower is considered a limiting factor to entrepreneurship in South Africa. Skills are needed for economic growth to be ensured. However, in the context of South Africa, certain skills seem to be lacking. This has hindered the level of productivity that ought to have been experienced by the nation. Moreover, rural communities are usually encompassed with many unskilled individuals due to migration of labour and skilled manpower to urban centres.
Lack of motivation: Lack of motivation hinders the creation and sustainability of entrepreneurship. They further opine that entrepreneurs who are motivated to uphold their entrepreneurial activities profit more. In other words, productive entrepreneurship is a product of motivation amidst challenges. The motivation may be intrinsic or extrinsic. Government policies, infrastructures, collaboration with other organizations, profit, among others can constitute extrinsic motivation for entrepreneurs, while personal satisfaction even without huge profit, personal accomplishment, achievement of set goals, may constitute intrinsic motivation. Thus, policies made for university students and several other factors can be used to motivate students towards becoming productive entrepreneurs
Non-existence of or poor mentorship programme: Non-existence of or poor mentorship programme can contribute to the failure of entrepreneurship. The report by Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (INSECTA, 2014) suggests that while the government supports and encourages entrepreneurship, it is expedient that it promotes mentee-mentor activities in various entrepreneurial sectors. This will help boost entrepreneurial activities in different parts and sectors of the society, while ensuring sustainability. Thus, employers are expected to be encouraged to make great funding available for internships in order to draw in graduates with potentials for entrepreneurial activities.
Conclusion: The study explored the need for entrepreneurship to be adopted as a tool to solving the challenges of unemployment in rural communities in the selected rural community in South Africa. Consequently, factors hindering entrepreneurship in the selected rural community in South Africa were investigated. Moreover, this can be adopted for other communities with similar contexts. However, the selected rural university seems to overlook the role of entrepreneurship as a tool for proffering solution to unemployment which is one of the main challenges confronting South African rural societies. To this end, the following recommendations are made:
Partnership between the rural based university and private or government owned organizations (NGOs inclusive) within the community that can promote productive entrepreneurship in such local environments should be encouraged, as well as creation of awareness and importance of entrepreneurship to members of the public. This will enable members of such societies to become motivated to get involved in entrepreneurial activities.
The curriculum of students should be made to include and promote entrepreneurial activities. This will help enlighten the students and make them get involved without much effort from external forces. It will also help make them know how to get involved in productive entrepreneurship that will benefit them and the society at large.
Loans should be given to students upon completion of their programmes that are entrepreneurial oriented. This will help motivate the students towards becoming productive entrepreneurs.
Source: Online
