Readiness for new ventures in South Africa through entrepreneurship education: a reflective thematic approach

Figures & data

Figure 1. Variants of (youth) entrepreneurship education (Koch et al., 2021).

Figure 2. Theory of planned behaviour.

Table 1. Demographical information of participants.

Respondent	Gender	Age	Education level
P1	Male	25	Undergraduate
P2	Male	21	Undergraduate
P3	Male	23	Undergraduate
P4	Male	22	Undergraduate
P5	Female	21	Undergraduate
P6	Male	21	Undergraduate
P7	Female	19	Undergraduate
P8	Male	20	Undergraduate
P9	Male	23	Undergraduate
P10	Female	24	Undergraduate
P11	Male	27	Undergraduate
P12	Female	28	Undergraduate
P13	Male	23	Undergraduate
P14	Male	34	Undergraduate
P15	Male	24	Undergraduate

Figure 3. Themes generated.

Table 2. Initial coding of data extracts.

To what extent has education in entrepreneurship made you ready to engage in entrepreneurship?	Codes
‘The entrepreneurship module has actually opened up a certain area in my mind. Now I admire the work of many entrepreneurs. I realised that entrepreneurship is an adventure, a way of life and a means of survival. But I think something needs to be done to adequately ensure readiness. Look getting psychological equipment is one thing. But let’s consider the initial capital, the space and the networks. More need to be done’ [P5]	-Sense of psychological readiness Excitement for entrepreneurship Materially not ready
‘I feel that the entrepreneurship module has made opened my eyes to see how I can be financially independent through being a player in the economy, but I think this idea that you educate at a certain university then you go for incubation somewhere else and then you seek funding from banks and government is wrong. Why can’t we create a model where you get a full package on one spot. I think that would make me more ready than I am now. To me readiness is enhanced if entrepreneurship education is heavily linked to practical activities of real businesses.’ [P7]	Intellectual excitement Practically not ready Theoretically ready Not ready with distributed route to entrepreneurship
‘Entrepreneurship is not just about knowledge acquisition; it entails real engagement in opportunity generation and persevering through various challenges to convert an opportunity into actual profit generating activities. There are opportunities to be converted, business plans to be formed, value chains to be analysed, viability test to be conducted, funding to be secured, markets to be assessed and so on. Readiness can only be attained if there is practical work related to these aspects of entrepreneurship. I see that the main challenge relates to these things.’ [P12]	Not ready – inadequate resources Theoretical readiness More practical support required
‘While I can argue that I have been capacitated mentally to be an entrepreneur. In other words, I have mental readiness, something remains missing. My question is – Why is it that entrepreneurship is not taught by entrepreneurs. I think in order to be fully ready to engage in entrepreneurship, I need lectures from the entrepreneurs themselves. Universities should promote adequate linkages and networks to allow entrepreneurs to teach entrepreneurship in universities.’[P6]	Mental readiness Doubt readiness. Believes in the use of role models Not ready. Inadequate linkages
‘Entrepreneurship education modules are wonderful and have done well to make me ready to engage in entrepreneurship, but I still face conflict from the society and community that I come from. Look, after graduating from the university, my family and other people in my community expect me to get employed somewhere and be a manager somewhere. Very few will appreciate me going to university and then coming back to struggle again, trying to establish and run a self-employment venture. I think entrepreneurship education should be done in conjunction with advocacy and community mobilisation to change views and attitudes in entrepreneurship.’ [P8]	Intellectual excitement Not ready – poor community and family acceptance of entrepreneurship as a career option Resource limitations Poor university-community links
‘Personally, I am not ready to engage in entrepreneurship after graduation because I foresee big challenges in the real activities of entrepreneurship. I need funds, I need tools and equipment and I need space. The University does not offer those things, so how can I be ready?’[P4]	Resource limitations (not ready) Negative attitudes (not ready)
‘I am ready to go my brother, I come from a background where there are existing entrepreneurs who are making money already. In fact, my parents run some entrepreneurial projects at home. I think I am now ready to take those projects to another level.’[P7]	University – home education Readiness through family entrepreneurship
‘I cannot say that I am fully ready because after graduation, I still have to seek the services of an incubator to help me set up my venture. Something which the University has not done. So, readiness is elusive.’[P11]	Feeling unsure Unsure about readiness Distributed entrepreneurship education not the best approach
‘I think there is need for an overhaul of the entire entrepreneurship education system in order to make individuals like me ready. Why can’t the university have its own real entrepreneurship ventures which it uses to allow practical exposure of entrepreneurship. Learning by doing is more powerful than these simple lectures.’[P2]	Nor ready – model of entrepreneurship education is unconvincing
‘Look, I hear that in China students are more entrepreneurial than us here in South Africa. Why can’t our education be organised in such a way that we have international exchanges of entrepreneurial students and lecturers where we get to know how they are doing it in China or in the United States of America?’[P1]	Not ready due to a localised approach Adopt an international approach
‘The Covid-19 pandemic have increased my readiness to be an entrepreneur. I saw people losing their employment as businesses closed. I then realized that having your own venture is critical. It gives you independence and financial or job security compared to being employed. In addition, businesses nowadays are more based on technology which makes entrepreneurship more easier to start.’[P5]	Environment-enhanced readiness Technology-enhanced readiness
I cannot become an entrepreneur straight from graduation. I think I need to go out and work somewhere first before I can become an entrepreneur. There is less hustle as a member of an organisation than as an entrepreneur.’[P14]	Not ready Poor appreciation of the entrepreneurship career option
‘I think I still need to meet a real entrepreneur before I can describe myself as ready to start my own venture. University education on entrepreneurship is more theoretical yet entrepreneurship is practical.’ [P15]	Initially feeling uncertain Feeling abstracted Feeling comfortable with time
‘I am not sure about my readiness. I will see when I graduate and start initiatives to start a venture.’[P10]	Unsure about readiness

Figure 4. Framework for venture readiness.

Koch, L. T., Braukmann, U., & Bartsch, D. (2021). Schulische Entrepreneurship Education – quo vadis Deutschland? Plädoyer für einen Perspektivenwechsel. Zeitschrift Für KMU Und Entrepreneurship (ZfKE), 69(1), 37–58. https://doi.org/10.3790/zfke.69.1.37

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