STEVEN ZWANE | Entrepreneurship education will give youth real freedom

Freedom Day is one of the most important dates in our national life.

It reminds us of April 27 1994, when South Africans voted in the first democratic election and opened a new chapter for the country. It reminds us of dignity, citizenship and the end of formal apartheid.

But in 2026, Freedom Day must also make us ask a tougher question: what does freedom mean to a young person who is politically free but economically stuck?

That is the daily contradiction facing millions of young South Africans. They have rights, but too often no pathway. They have talent, but too often no exposure. They have dreams, but too often no system that helps them move from aspiration to action.

This is why entrepreneurship education matters.

I am not arguing that every learner must become a business owner. I am not suggesting entrepreneurship is a magic wand that can solve unemployment on its own. It cannot.

SA still needs growth, industrial development, investment and jobs. But entrepreneurship education is one of the most important missing pieces in the fight against youth unemployment.

Why? Because it builds agency.

It teaches young people how opportunities are recognised, how value is created, how money works, how customers think, how problems can be solved and how initiative can be taken even in difficult circumstances. In a country as unequal as ours, those are not luxury lessons. They are life skills.

High school is where identity is shaped. It is where many young people start deciding whether they see themselves as capable, creative and economically active − or whether they see success as something that happens somewhere else, to someone else.

This is especially important for township and rural youth. In many of these communities, the challenge is not only income.

It is also visibility. Too many young people grow up without enough exposure to entrepreneurs, builders, inventors and problem-solvers they can relate to. Entrepreneurship education helps to widen the horizon. It tells a young person: you do not only have to wait. You can also build.

If we only inspire young people, but do not equip them, support them and give them opportunities to practise, then we create hope without movement. Real entrepreneurship education must build both mindset and skill.

Government is beginning to take entrepreneurship education more seriously. The conversation is moving. But reform will only work if it is properly implemented and properly supported.

Corporate SA also has to step up. Youth entrepreneurship cannot remain a side project in CSI. It must become part of the country’s development infrastructure.

Business has mentors, networks, market access, procurement opportunities, practical knowledge and digital capability.

Nonprofits have trust, pedagogy and deep experience in working with young people. Government has policy authority and scale. We need all three.

So what should happen next? First, SA must formalise entrepreneurship education as a serious part of the national schooling conversation.

Second, schools must bring it to life through practical activities − mini-enterprises, entrepreneur interviews, teacher development and real-world exposure.

Third, support must be differentiated. In-school youth need mindset, exposure and formation. Student youth need incubation and venture support. Unemployed youth need pathways, finance access and practical livelihood systems.

Fourth, we must measure what works and stop relying on slogans.

Freedom Day is the right time to say this because freedom was never supposed to end at political recognition. Freedom without economic agency leaves too many young people frustrated, excluded and vulnerable.

In 2026, we must fight for a deeper freedom: the freedom of young people not only to participate in democracy, but to build within it.

• Dr Zwane is a senior lecturer in entrepreneurship at GIBS, the founder of Youth Leadership and Entrepreneurship Development (YLED) and author of Rising from the Township