Youth entrepreneurship in a rural context: the motivational impact of community and family factors

Abstract

With high youth unemployment rates in South Africa, strategies to increase youth entrepreneurship have become essential. Youth in rural communities tend to face circumstances which require proper examination to establish how they can be motivated to engage in entrepreneurship. The purpose of this study is to explore the question: How do community and family factors in a rural context influence youth to engage in entrepreneurship? To address this research question, a case study research design was adopted, and data were collected through focus group discussions with youth entrepreneurs in a rural township community. The fifteen-member focus group discussion provided evidence that youths in rural contexts face unique challenges and scenarios that demand specific consideration. Essentially, it was established that the community and the families of the entrepreneurs provided the motivation to overcome circumstances and to achieve. Community elders and leaders were found to be critical in influencing the psyche and entrepreneurial behavior of the youths. Resources and entrepreneurial ideas and skills were also found to be passed from generation to generation through inheritance systems or through sharing. Rural communities were further found to be endowed with various resources whose exploitation was based on the collective culture in rural communities. Families were also found to be sources of number of entrepreneurial traits such as risk taking, desire for independence or the need to achieve. This study recommends that both public and private institutions in rural communities should promote the welfare of rural communities and families so that imperative entrepreneurial behavior emerges.