Youth Entrepreneurship Development in Botswana: An Analysis

By Tlhatlhobo "Tk" ko goo Rra Mosienyane

 One of the inherent qualities of the concept of entrepreneurship which has contributed to the stagnation of research on the subject is that scholars have yet to come up with a unanimous description and explanation for it. Despite having been identified as one of the stimulants of economic growth, little if any research has been taken on this phenomenon in Botswana. Young people make the bulk of Botswana’s population comprising an estimated 60% of the local population, the need to combat high unemployment levels amongst this age group need not be the focus of this moment. This submission seeks to look into entrepreneurship and the various characteristics which have come to be associated with this growing trend, in doing so I will try to explore the definition of entrepreneurship as well as some of the key benefits of implementing a cohesive entrepreneurship development agenda particularly amongst the Youth. One of the first individuals to recognize its importance in economic theory was Richard Cantillon who said that “The farmer is an entrepreneur who promises to pay the landowner, for his farm or land, a fixed sum of money without assurance for the profit he will derive from his enterprise”. This played testament to one of the true defining creeds of entrepreneurship being the lack of fear in taking calculated risks. Other scholars have focused their scope on the traits and personal attributes that make and define entrepreneurs, McClelland submits an explanation of entrepreneurship hedged on the need for achievement. Other scholars have equally submitted other characteristics of successful entrepreneurs like an internal locus of control, low aversion to risk taking, aggressiveness, ambition, over-optimism, a desire for autonomy, personal values and the need or hunger for power.

From these diverse explanations for entrepreneurship, the role of an entrepreneur can thus be derived. Various categories have been submitted of entrepreneurs and the scope in which they operate. Another type of entrepreneurship, gathering momentum across the globe, is social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship uses entrepreneurial activity to create social value; wealth creation is just a means to an end and a way of measuring value creation.
As Dees (2001) puts it, “For social entrepreneurs, social mission-related impact becomes the central criterion, not wealth creation”. Socially entrepreneurial ventures focus on innovative approaches to social problems, pursue financial self-sustainability and independence from the State, set clear performance goals and apply proven management skills to ensure efficiency, effectiveness and accountability. There exists a need for Botswana to cater for this group of entrepreneurs in her developmental drive given the wide spread benefits of social entrepreneurship both to the economy and the social order at large. Economic entrepreneurs on the other hand are all about the money, their primary orientation is profit with a religious dedication to huge profit margins. This group of entrepreneurs is particularly crucial in Botswana’s bid to have a private sector led economy as opposed to a government led economy.
Another type here submitted is public entrepreneurship, one of the least recognized types of entrepreneurship. Whereas public entrepreneurs employ the same strategies as
economic entrepreneurs, their goal is not only geared towards financial gains or wealth creation, this group of young cats is more concerned with improving efficiency and effectiveness in public institutions. These guys help institutions and organization to become more responsive and in touch with their clients and communities. Through establishing consultancies geared towards such, entrepreneurs are often engaged on various projects. For instance, some public entrepreneurs have found value and profit in offering public institutions and private companies training programs. Because BOTA encourages employers to invest in their human resources training through the Vocational Training fund, public entrepreneurs in Botswana have carved a niche in offering training and development programs and solutions to companies and organizations. All these various types of entrepreneurship seem to highlight one thing, the diverse nature of entrepreneurship. The concept of entrepreneurship is widely linked and attached to innovation, something which signifies the modern world's continued change to adapt to an increasingly transforming and globalized community.

The need for young people to venture into entrepreneurship based activity cannot be over emphasized; a large number of young people are unemployed despite their having various skills that could, if appropriately utilized, generate income for the said people in the form of enterprise. With an increasing number of graduates joining the unemployed, the time for Botswana to establish mechanisms to foster a culture of entrepreneurship amongst today’s youth has come and is just about to go. I argue that this slim opportunity is just about to go simply because as we chart our entrepreneurship development roadmap, other countries in the global community are increasingly taking paradigm shifts towards entrepreneurship centric economies as a strategic move to create efficiency, effectiveness and employment in their countries. I further submit that the benefits of entrepreneurship amongst the Youth go way beyond the traditional employment creation associated with entrepreneurship, it weaves itself into our social structure curing ills such as delinquency as youth are now engaged on more productive capacities, it empowers the young as more and more entrepreneurs become role models for those in school. Entrepreneurship goes way beyond the conventional business skills; it drills critical thinking and decision making skills into those committed to it while ensuring that big targets such as food security and self sufficiency are systematically met. With this in mind, it would be thus prudent to see how we can promote entrepreneurship among the populace, particularly the young, so as to tap into the benefits that will accrue from this approach.

One need only look at companies like Facebook, Twitter, Apple and in Botswana’s case, Choppies, to see how entrepreneurship and innovation can transform companies. One of the characteristics that these companies have in common is their ability to see opportunities, seize them and promote innovation as part of their system. Entrepreneurial companies have extraordinary growth over a sustained period and thus impact remarkably on economic growth. I had the honor of co-pioneering a youth entrepreneurship program last year dubbed the Varsities Economic Empowerment Day where the primal focus was to foster entrepreneurship skills amongst University Students as well as to urge them to adopt entrepreneurship as a viable employment opportunity for both themselves and their peers. Presentation on the various businesses
and models that could work for them were made while established entrepreneurs such as Mme Joy Simekane gave inspiring messages to the participants, I was surprised at the over whelming response we got from the student populace and the well thought recommendations submitted during the two day conference. The conference gave me a clear cut conviction of the need to integrate the youth into Botswana’s economic diversification objectives and drive, while the conference, and many others like it sought to get young people to participate in the main stream economy as entrepreneurs, we still have a wide spread deficiency in our out reach programs as social entrepreneurs. First on the stumbling blocks list is the capacity of the said conferences, a majority of Youth do not get access to these entrepreneurial development programs with the most affected living in the far flung areas of this beautiful nation of ours. Secondly, the sustainability of projects geared towards entrepreneurship development and social change in general has proven to be a major thorn in the flesh for those with the wish to invest in social change. Funding, as is always the case, is a major impediment in the establishment of programs that could initiate innovation effectively and efficiently. The National Human Resource Development strategy points out that Botswana is currently classified as an efficiency based economy by the Global Competitiveness Report (2008).

The report categorizes countries into three being ‘Factor driven’, Efficiency driven and Innovation driven. The first, ‘Factor Driven’ stage of development is where countries rely on their basic factor endowments, primarily unskilled labor and natural resources. The second development stage is termed ‘Efficiency Driven’ characterized by higher wages, more efficient production processes, increased product quality, efficient markets, higher levels of education and training and the ability to harness the benefits of existing technologies. South Africa and Mauritius have reached this stage of development while Botswana and Namibia have been classified as - transitional economies moving from Stage 1 to Stage 2. Finally, there are the third stage countries whose economies are ‘Innovation Driven’ which provide a sustainable high standard of living for their citizens and associated high wages, by producing new and innovative goods, developing sophisticated production processes and educating and training high level „knowledge workers‟. Currently there are no African countries which have reached this stage of development. It therefore remains crucial for Botswana to effect research on issues, challenges and barrier facing young entrepreneurs that will assist in pin pointing and addressing any loopholes that might have been found. This will in the short term ensure that our mediation strategies as a country are both clear cut and to the point, tackling bottlenecks that will never suffice without the proper research and studies. Due to the many strong arguments for entrepreneurship, promoting an entrepreneurial culture should be encouraged by word and might from the sectors of society. This should be accompanied by directing our education system to deliver individuals with a good combination of specialist and generalist skills. On top of this, the main tenets of entrepreneurship should be a common course for all students so as to equip them with necessary skills like writing a business plan, preparing a proposal to present to investors, how to register a company, general accounting skills and other necessary skills.

Imbedding a culture of entrepreneurship amongst young people is no easy task, some lack the desire or will, some the skills, and some are just plain old lazy while some hold Doctorate degrees in the art of procrastination. Bottom line, we need to work towards ensuring a generation of innovative and creative young people who can compete with the best in Jozi, the best in Windhoek, Harare and of course Shanghai. This will ensure Botswana a special place in the global and African arena as a pioneer in youth entrepreneurship development and support. The case for entrepreneurship has already been made, what remains is for the various stakeholders in youth entrepreneurship development to carve a way forward for the empowerment of a generation ravaged by high levels of unemployment, this way forward should be reflective of the diverse nature of entrepreneurship and the innovation that is so often preached but not implemented.

Tlhatlhobo Mosienyane is a Youth Entrepreneurship Development lobbyist; he is currently a Finance & Administration Director at Mafilla Promotions, e-mail your comments to tkmosienyane@gmail.com