Youth perceptions on business climate for the establishment and expansion of rural-based small-scale enterprises in Makhado Municipality
type: CreativeWork
description: Small-scale enterprises are invaluable in most countries' economies. A positive and supportive business environment enables them to succeed. However, rural area-based small-scale enterprises are beset with many challenges. For instance, in South Africa there is inadequate knowledge on the nature of the business climate under which they operate. This is particularly significant given that there are persistent calls for youth to create jobs through running small-scale businesses. Yet, rarely are the youth voices considered when developing programmes that might enhance youth participation, in particular, in rural areas. Thus, this case study was conducted to characterise the business climate as perceived by in-school and out-of-school youth in Wards 1, 29 and 37 of Makhado Municipality. A mixed research methods approach was used. Triangulation was adopted and involved data collection through reflection circles and questionnaires that required responses on a Likert­ type scale of 1 (Disagree) to 4 (Strongly agree). Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc: Chicago, II, USA). Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney U tests were carried out to determine whether there were significant differences in the perceptions on business climate as viewed by female and male youth, in and out of school youth and across the three Wards. The youth perceptions on the business climate were organised into four themes, namely external dynamics; entrepreneurship (knowledge and skills); access to resources and infrastructure. It was observed that youth perceived the business climate under which rural area-based small-scale enterprises operated negatively. In general, the perceptions of male and female youth were the same (P > 0.05) except for "limited knowledge on how to register various types of businesses" (P < 0.05). Female youth agreed more with this issue compared to their male counterparts. The mean rank for the perception, "…
abstract: Small-scale enterprises are invaluable in most countries' economies. A positive and supportive business environment enables them to succeed. However, rural area-based small-scale enterprises are beset with many challenges. For instance, in South Africa there is inadequate knowledge on the nature of the business climate under which they operate. This is particularly significant given that there are persistent calls for youth to create jobs through running small-scale businesses. Yet, rarely are the youth voices considered when developing programmes that might enhance youth participation, in particular, in rural areas. Thus, this case study was conducted to characterise the business climate as perceived by in-school and out-of-school youth in Wards 1, 29 and 37 of Makhado Municipality. A mixed research methods approach was used. Triangulation was adopted and involved data collection through reflection circles and questionnaires that required responses on a Likert­ type scale of 1 (Disagree) to 4 (Strongly agree). Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc: Chicago, II, USA). Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney U tests were carried out to determine whether there were significant differences in the perceptions on business climate as viewed by female and male youth, in and out of school youth and across the three Wards. The youth perceptions on the business climate were organised into four themes, namely external dynamics; entrepreneurship (knowledge and skills); access to resources and infrastructure. It was observed that youth perceived the business climate under which rural area-based small-scale enterprises operated negatively. In general, the perceptions of male and female youth were the same (P > 0.05) except for "limited knowledge on how to register various types of businesses" (P < 0.05). Female youth agreed more with this issue compared to their male counterparts. The mean rank for the perception, "…
author: Ndhlovu, Butho
language: en
keywords: Youth, Business, Climate, Rural -based, Small-scale, Enterprises, UCTD
date published: 2014-01-10
date modified: 2026-07-27T21:57:59Z
provider: University of Venda
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Venda

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11602/148