Mar 27, 2021

Entrepreneurship Development

Purple Lime Position Paper

Purple Lime drives enterprise creation as a solution to empowerment

Nurturing entrepreneurship is an important commitment for the realization of the potential in disadvantaged and marginalised youth who find themselves side-lined from the mainstream economy. Three factors plays a role in the realization of the potential:

• Communities need to engage in education programs to promote change in archaic mind-sets causing marginalisation;
• Corporate structures has to become involved with youth entrepreneurial development and support establishment initiatives; and
• More engagement in networking and lobbying for policy or legislative change is required.

Through coalition building and by advocating a turnaround of the dyer state of economical degradation in communities, especially marginalised female groupings, empowerment can then be achieved by:

• Providing relevant education to the youth;
• Entrepreneurship development through promoting and assisting with enterprise establishment; and
• Tutor and mentoring initiatives to support longevity and ultimate establishment success.

These become crucial elements in the process of economic empowerment whilst improving the socio-economic condition of disadvantaged groups.

Background regarding entrepreneurial development

Historically the most widely adopted approaches in entrepreneurial development programs have often been paternalistic in nature, even if unintentionally, while often ignoring or developing the strength of the operators. Poverty alleviation programs soon degrade into “charity” rather than cultivating entrepreneurial durability and self-reliance. As such, entrepreneurial development has been compromised through developmental interventions and eventually contributed to the creation of real poverty rather than alleviation there-of.  

The problem is that projects are generally conceived and prescribed by government or corporate appointed “agencies” rather than by the individuals themselves. This top down approach leads to a lack of project ownership which is visible in the fact that once finances dry up, so does the interest of the “operator”. 

Factors such as ethnicity, gender, religion, economic and social status, etc. also influence entrepreneurial prevalence. These factors are exacerbated by limited or non-existent social support systems, subsidies eliminated as part of debt reduction programs and a high level of unemployment. 

Applied correctly, these factors can however become a stimulant to prospective entrepreneurs!

Entrepreneurs born from these stimuli however face high levels of uncertainty and risks due to political, social, and economic instability but also due to a lack in access to capital and institutional support. They often lack understanding of business ethics, lack managerial knowledge or experience, have no formal business training or familiarity with the institutional and legal environment.

Purple Lime educates and empower disadvantaged youth to better their future through employment and entrepreneurship!

It is important to develop approaches considering current contexts of youth entrepreneurs in the economy and society when developing training, coaching and mentoring programs.

• In designed training programmes we focus on developing entrepreneurial mind-sets, which means changing attitudes of the proprietor and their supporting community. Entrepreneurial knowledge required to succeed not only relates to professional practice in running a business, but also to skills, attitudes and to meta-qualities like reflecting on personal growth and soft skills. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation is critical to increase the longevity and effectiveness of training programmes.
• When planning support for young entrepreneurs, we segment participants on the basis of [1} type of enterprise (sole proprietors and SMME’s have different needs), [2] the proprietor’s propensity to entrepreneurship, and [3] differentiation by age.
• We establish social and professional networks as they are important in entrepreneurship as key sources of motivation, ideas, information, advice, business partners, employees, and future customers. These networks can vary widely in their nature, such as private networks with family and friends, and professional networks of fellow business collaborators, but could extend to identity-based networks like ethnic or religious affiliation. Our policy approach includes developing specific networks around disadvantaged groups; using networks as a vehicle for delivering targeted training; building networks around a specific objective (for example business growth); and developing virtual networks.
• When considering skills, abilities and attitudes, we select participants based on their motivation to set up a business rather than other characteristics such as formal education. Ongoing support is highly adaptive to the context within which development occurs and is linked to mentoring programs. We strategically place inspirational operators and mentors in networks to keep the youth motivated but attempt to combine proprietors with different skill sets and personality profiles as long as they share common interests. Our policies ensure clear objectives, outcomes, results and indicators so that proprietors can receive continuous feedback for prolonged guidance and development.

Conclusion

Entrepreneurial development has been recognized as an effective tool for capacity building in a marginalized community. The basic principles of entrepreneurship are mutual trust and motivation towards economic activities that is encouraged through institutional support. Factors that play a crucial role in entrepreneurship include functions like internal operations, effective leadership, and ongoing support in establishing a business venture.

The individuals’ decisions towards entrepreneurship is influenced by three elements: (1) the initial reason for participation must be personal in nature, (2) environmental and economic circumstances must be favourable, and (3) the existing level of entrepreneurial activity in the entrepreneur‘s community must be noticeable.

Three pillars supports the process of entrepreneurial development and enterprise establishment:

• Supply appropriate a relevant education
• Create effective capitalisation
• Establish an ongoing support system

To promote financial sustainability and current relevance amongst youth in a modern society, Purple Lime instils practical skills by offering training in personal development, various artisanal fields, digital developments as well as business establishment and management.

Purple Lime has a vision for a better life and sustainable future for all, without stigma and gender based constraints, where all are equal and measured only by your own abilities!

Message contact@purplelime.org for further discussion and support.