In South Africa if a young person has an idea that they want to turn into a business they soon find out that their biggest challenge is to locate and utilise all the resources they require to properly start-up.
There are many sources of start-up funding available to young people in South Africa, but youth have to first find out which institution funds their sort of idea and deals with their type of background. The same applies to other types of support required by youth owned start-ups across the country.
Even after funding has been sourced a number of youth owned businesses fail in their early stages because of lack of skilled staff, while on the other hand the country has an alarming youth unemployment rate. Some of the unemployed youth are graduates with skills that can be a great relief to the youth start-ups.
Much of the support required by youth owned businesses is also found among many successful youth owned and non youth owned businesses.
There is just not enough connection for the correct questions to make their way from a young startup to a successful business and then for answers to go back to the vulnerable start-ups in time. This causes many youth start-ups to “drive into the same potholes others once drove into”.
There is just not enough collaboration and because of this and too many opportunities of business growth for all are missed. The greatest opportunities for success are mostly located in certain areas of society.
For one to get access to all of these opportunities a great amount of time and money may at times be spent. This excludes those who lack the funds but have great innovative idea, which can add value to our economy.
The South African Start-up ecosystem is fragmented and lacks inclusivity. At Startup Mzansi Foundation we are entrepreneurs who have experienced these challenges and in 2016 we set out to create solutions to overcome them.
We have created the Startup App: http://www.startupapp.co.za. It is everything one will need to start and grow a business.
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