DG_MusengiAjulu

The focus on developing youth entrepreneurship has increased the world over, given the potential for entrepreneurship to facilitate economic participation by the youth. Furthermore, some empirical studies suggest that young people are increasingly making the decision to pursue self-employment as a work option at an earlier age. This paper describes the results of a pilot study designed to examine entrepreneurial intentions among the youth in South Africa. The survey instrument, the Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ) is used to collect personal data as well as data on the constructs of entrepreneurial intention using 7-point Likert scales. Data analysis of the pilot study is limited to descriptive analysis of 96 completed questionnaires largely using frequency distribution. The results give some insights about entrepreneurial intentions among some South African youth but only further empirical analysis would begin to provide insights on relationships and differences between groups. Thus, the results of the pilot study suggest that a larger study may yield a better representation of the entrepreneurial intentions of South African youth. However, the results of this pilot study provide some valuable insights for policymakers, entrepreneurship educators and youth development practitioners interested in accelerating youth entrepreneurship.