The age-old nature versus nurture debate offers a useful lens through which to examine entrepreneurship. Are entrepreneurs born, or are they made? While some entrepreneurial traits may be innate, the overwhelming evidence suggests that nurture and environment plays a defining role in unlocking entrepreneurial potential. And in today's world, our institutions of higher learning are a critical environment in which to achieve this.
Having said this, while courses in entrepreneurship are increasingly being offered by our universities and TVET colleges, they too often fail to inspire, equip and sustain young people’s entrepreneurial journeys. We must confront this and ask how we, as academics/researchers can nurture entrepreneurship to be successful.
We are duty bound to achieve this, faced as we are, with youth unemployment hovering above 60% in some provinces. The devastation is visible in our townships and rural villages. We see the despair of unemployed graduates from our universities and colleges, walking the streets with degrees and diplomas in hand, but no job in sight.
Adding to this are the growing numbers of young people classified as NEETs, those not in employment, education, or training. They are excluded from economic participation and social mobility, creating a vicious cycle of poverty, frustration, and long-term disillusionment. The ripple effects are profound: crime, mental health challenges, family breakdown and a growing disconnect between the state and its young citizens.
It is time for a hard reset, which requires tackling the problem head on. The problem is the method of nurturing entrepreneurs, and this is why South Africa’s start-up failure rate is among the highest in the world. Why? Because entrepreneurship is not just about registering a business, it requires a specific mindset, resilience, opportunity recognition, innovation and sustained effort.
Too often, universities teach entrepreneurship as a theoretical subject, stripped of the very grit and grind that defines it. We cannot just teach business plans; we need to live and breathe enterprise. This requires a radical cultural shift where entrepreneurship is not an add-on module, it must be woven into the DNA of the curriculum across disciplines.
If we look at international best practices there are some powerful models:
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Asia, particularly in countries like Singapore and South Korea, benefits from robust government support for student entrepreneurship through mentorship, seed funding and advisory councils that keep higher education aligned with national economic strategies.
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The United States champions collaboration between universities and industry, with funding tied to real-world innovation and student exposure to entrepreneurial projects.
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Germany insists that academic staff have industry experience, bridging the gap between theory and practice.
In the South African higher education context, it calls for a bold redesign. We must acknowledge that our current system, while producing graduates, is not producing enough employable or entrepreneurial individuals. To address youth and graduate unemployment meaningfully, we must overhaul the way our universities and TVET colleges function.
This involves:
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Curriculum overhaul: Entrepreneurial thinking must be integrated into all disciplines with real-life problem-solving, industry collaboration, and exposure to risk and innovation.
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Emotional and psychological readiness: Nurturing students’ emotional capacity to be entrepreneurial, including resilience, confidence, initiative and drive.
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Experiential learning: Internships, incubators, real-world business projects, and mentorship must form the backbone of the student experience.
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Industry and government partnerships: Strong collaboration with business and government can unlock resources, ideas, and opportunities for students.
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Technology and Innovation: The digital economy presents a wealth of new employment and entrepreneurial opportunities. Universities should take the lead in utilising AI, digital platforms, and the gig economy to equip and prepare students for the world of work.
To advance entrepreneurship countrywide, in 2024 several of our universities established the Business Incubation Web Association (BIWA) as a vehicle for business incubation. BIWA’s inaugural international conference on business innovation and incubation was held in October 2024, and attended by over 130 delegates, including from academia, government and industry. Over 50 CEOs from national and international companies, including incubators, attended. BIWA’s second international conference will be held in October this year.
It creates a strong bridge between academia and industry to work together to shape entrepreneurship policy and action at a national level, and we are working on getting the Department of Higher Education and Training ) and the Department of Small Business Development on board to work with us. There is so much that can be done, such as identifying graduate doctors who are unemployed, and bringing them into incubations so that they can establish their own practices. The same goes for all professions.
There are promising signs that several higher education institutions in South Africa are rising to the challenge. At Nelson Mandela University, the newly launched Mandela University Africa Hub for Youth Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation, is being led by Deputy Vice-Chancellor of People & Operations, Mr Luthando Jack, signifying that the university views student entrepreneurship as one of its top priorities. The Hub houses initiatives, including the Centre for Entrepreneurship Rapid Incubator (CfERI), Madibaz Youth Entrepreneurship Lab, Madibaz Youth Lab, Business Incubation Web Association and the Student Employability & Entrepreneurship Development (SEED) programme.
CfERI was established at Mandela University in 2024. With funding from the Small Enterprise Development & Finance Agency (SEDFA), it offers a structured 18 to 36-month incubation programme for students, graduate entrepreneurs, unemployed young people, and young township entrepreneurs. Over the past year CfERI has incubated 38 small businesses that have created 92 sustained jobs. The projected turnover is estimated to exceed R15 million in the 2025/26 financial year.
Student businesses include tutoring services, hydroponics, media services, website development, a driving school, tuckshops, food vendors, fashion and beauty stores, a barbershop and tailoring, many of them run from shipping containers they rent from the university.
One of the CfERI township incubatees is chef and entrepreneur, Anita Sodladla, who started with a takeaway spot, and now has a catering business, mobile food truck, and a restaurant for 50 people called The Patio, situated between Gqeberha’s industrial area of Struandale and the Zwide/Kwazakhele townships. Through the incubation she learnt how to grow her business sustainably and also how to apply for funding to upscale it to the next level. She has since applied for R250 000 in funding from SEDFA Asset Assist.
Incubation achievements offer more than just optimism, they provide a blueprint for entrepreneurship. But we cannot rely on scattered initiatives. We need a coordinated national vision for entrepreneurship, one that turns our universities and colleges from degree and diploma factories into innovation labs that nurture young people not just to find work, but to create it.
Government needs to come on board. If we can coordinate entrepreneurship in a systematic way at all our higher education institutions, it will go a long way to contributing to employment and positive societal change. The challenge is urgent. The stakes are generational. The time to act is now.
Captions: Student entrepreneur, Anita Sodladla has a restaurant, food truck and catering business in Gqeberha called The Patio.
Dr Thobekani Lose