Creating entrepreneurs in South Africa through education

Abstract

South African total early stage entrepreneurial activity rates declined by 34% in 2014 with a lack of education viewed as one of the key factors attributing to the decline. A lack of education suggests that education either creates entrepreneurs or enables entrepreneurship in South Africa. The literature suggests there are positive and negative links between education and entrepreneurship with no evidence of causation. This research study therefore seeks to establish if education in South Africa is an enabler or a creator of entrepreneurship in an effort to improve early stage entrepreneurial activity rates in South Africa. Qualitative research was conducted via semi structured interviews to 13 Johannesburg based South African entrepreneurs who represented various industries and had acquired a combination of formal, informal and non formal education in South Africa. The non probability sampling method was used, purposive and snowball in particular. The research study found that education, more specifically; formal education, can be a deterrent as well as an enabler of entrepreneurship in South Africa. It was clear that formal education does not create entrepreneurs in South Africa. Informal education was found to be an important method of learning to become an entrepreneur suggesting that entrepreneurs can be created via informal education in South Africa.