Page 48 - IRMSA Risk Report 2023

TOP 5 CHALLENGES TOP 5 RISK TREATMENT OPTIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES
TARGETS
Inability to leverage
TO ACHIEVING ▶
entrepreneurship due to a
largely dysfunctional education
system and poor training
opportunities.
Social factors that do not 01.
promote entrepreneurship as a
career path of choice.
A lack of access to finance and a
difficult regulatory environment
in South Africa.
Poor and unreliable public
infrastructure due to a lack of
maintenance and improvement,
this because of incompetence,
corruption and a lack of skills in
government. 02.
Disparities in the distribution
of resources (inequality),
coupled with poor educational
opportunities.
03.
Lack of economic growth in the
04.
country.
05.
Little or no access to jobs.
48
-
Improve the ease of doing
business in South Africa, to
entice multinationals to operate
in the country.
-
Private sector can commit to
more public-private partnership
initiatives to employ and train
individuals that will eventually
remain in the public sector with
the requisite skills effectiveness
and efficiency.
▶
The development and implementation of a national strategy on entrepreneurship.
This would take the form of a unified national centre consisting of stakeholders from
government and the private sector. Together, they would align commitments and
provide a common goal on a macro level, as well as lead and coordinate micro-
initiatives across the country.
There is an opportunity for the private sector to sponsor and support start up small
business.
The government needs to address the underlying causes of which addressing skills
development especially on municipal levels is priority. Also prioritising investment
in infrastructure and infrastructure maintenance are recommended as infrastructure
is the backbone of our economy.
One of the greatest challenges of the South African educational system is to provide
appropriate learning and skill sets for learners leaving the education system, so that
they are employable in a world of accelerating change and volatility. While it is
commendable that the aspiration of most school leavers is to study further for a
white-collar job, this is unrealistic in the current environment of high unemployment
and low economic growth. South Africa has a great footprint of TVET colleges,
which provide programmes for a wide range of artisan studies that will equip school
leavers with practical skills that they can earn a living from.
Society in general should take a realistic view that there are a limited amount of
‘knowledge worker’ jobs available, and that the youth should focus on upskilling
and traditional artisan employment opportunities. This will provide a better fit for
demand, with more of the youth being employable. It will help to improve the
current unemployment and livelihood crisis. The ask is for the state to continue
improving and growing the TVET College footprint it already has.
Two pervasive reasons for lack of economic growth remain the continual severe
loadshedding by Eskom and the endemic corruption plaguing our public and
private organisations, leading to high unemployment and the livelihood crisis that
the country is experiencing. If not to create jobs, it is incumbent on the government
to create an environment that promotes business to grow, thereby creating
employment.
Of the many challenges to growing the economy of the country, government needs
to make visible and significant improvements towards a more reliable power supply,
as well as curbing corruption.
The unemployment rate represents approximately 7.8 million South Africans
of working age. If the extended definition of unemployment is applied
to include those who have given up their search for employment, the
unemployment rate stands at ±42.6%. Youth represent 17.84 million of South
Africa’s 60.6 million, of which 61% were unemployed in Q4/2022. To move
the dial in the right direction, both the public and private sector can act.
• Government should create a better environment for foreign investment through
less restrictive labour regulation.
• Improve the ease of doing business in South Africa, to entice multinationals to
operate in the country.
• Private sector can commit to more public-private partnership initiatives to
employ and train individuals that will eventually remain in the public sector
with the requisite skills effectiveness and efficiency.
IRMSA RISK REPORT 2023/24