The youth want to build
South Africa cannot speak seriously about youth empowerment while a generation of young people is expected to remain spectators in an economy they are capable of transforming. We are told that entrepreneurship is the answer to unemployment, yet many young entrepreneurs discover that the hardest part is not having an idea. It is gaining access to finance, markets, equipment, networks, infrastructure and opportunities to prove that the idea can work.
The question we should be asking is simple: are we genuinely empowering young people, or are we comfortable keeping them at the margins of economic power? A young person should not be limited to being somebody’s personal assistant, junior employee or intermediary when they have the potential to own a company, employ others and build wealth.
Gatekeeping is an economic problem
Economic exclusion is not always visible. Sometimes it appears as a closed network, an opportunity that never reaches young entrepreneurs, a procurement process that favours established players, or a large company that refuses to open its supply chain to emerging businesses. The result is the same: those who already have capital and relationships continue to dominate, while those trying to enter the economy struggle to get their first meaningful opportunity.
This is not an argument against established business or private enterprise. South Africa needs strong businesses. But transformation cannot happen if economic power remains concentrated and new competitors are treated as a threat rather than as partners in building a bigger economy.
Tenders are a door, not the destination
Government procurement can be an important instrument of empowerment, but youth economic empowerment must go beyond tendering. A tender should be an entry point into a sustainable business, not the entire business model. We should be asking what happens to a young company after its first contract. Does it acquire equipment? Develop skills? Enter private sector supply chains? Manufacture something? Employ more people? Become competitive without depending on the next tender?
The ANC’s policy tradition supports precisely this broader approach. Its youth policy has long called for meaningful economic participation, youth driven development and support for youth managed SMMEs, and the movement’s current programme emphasises finance, markets, infrastructure, industrialisation, cooperatives and access to value chains for young and emerging businesses.
What real empowerment should look like
First, youth owned enterprises must be deliberately connected to corporate and public supply chains. Large companies should not only employ young people; they should help develop young suppliers who can eventually compete at scale. Programmes like the Sebokeng skills-to-enterprise handover show what becomes possible when training ends in equipment, premises and a real business.
Second, development finance must become easier to access and more closely connected to real markets. Funding a business without helping it find customers is not enough. Finance, mentorship, technical support and market access should work together.
Third, we need youth participation in productive sectors such as manufacturing, construction, agriculture, energy, logistics and technology. Shared industrial spaces, equipment hubs, cooperatives and incubation programmes can lower the cost of entry and allow young businesses to build capacity.
Finally, successful SMMEs must be helped to graduate. The objective should be to move a young entrepreneur from survival, to stability, to employment creation, and ultimately to ownership and industrial participation.
Let young people shape the economy
The ANC has consistently identified economic transformation, broadening ownership, youth empowerment and inclusive growth as central to building a more equal South Africa. That commitment must be felt in the everyday experience of young entrepreneurs.
Sonwabile Ngoza
“Young people do not want charity. We want access, ownership, opportunity and the freedom to compete.”
We want to build companies that can outlive us, employ other young people and contribute to the productive capacity of our country. As a former SASCO Chairperson and ANC BTT Leader, I believe the next phase of youth empowerment must be more ambitious. We should not only ask how many young people received an opportunity. We should ask how many became owners, employers, producers and decision makers.
South Africa cannot transform its economy while its young people remain outside the room where economic decisions are made. The youth must not merely inherit the future. We must be given the space, tools and opportunity to build it.
Follow the empowerment record
The People’s Register reports on youth enterprise, skills and economic participation across the movement’s programme.
Related reading
This is an opinion contribution. The views are the author’s own.