Youth Entrepreneur Ecosystems: Barriers and Enablers in Relation to Government Agencies, Private sector Agencies, SMEs, Large Businesses and Corporates

This chapter reports on the findings of the research regarding barriers and enablers influencing youth entrepreneurs, namely those related to government agencies, private sector agencies, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); and large businesses and Corporatescorporates. These types of agencies and corporate influences are important as they inspire and co-create with the youth. Networking with like-minded individuals who can inspire is imperative in helping the youth towards an entrepreneurial orientation. To date, the youth had very little exposure to business friends and thus had not been able to connect and co-inspire. They had, as previously detailed, received very little support from government and private agencies as a whole but once this connection was forged, so too was the co-initiate, co-create and co-inspire process enabled, and the necessary mechanisms of entrepreneurial actionEntrepreneurial action (EA) triggered. There were numerous reports of the absence of support, financial, network or other, from government and municipal agencies, which were offset by increased access and collaboration by municipal or government mentors. Access is a large barrier but is overcome through collaborative efforts from varied parties in inspiration.