JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Many people in South Africa do not have jobs.

It is one
of the biggest problems facing the country’s young adults.

To make money, many young people are starting their own businesses. But it’s not easy for
everyone.
South Africa ended Apartheid in 1994. The apartheid system kept blacks and other
nonwhites separate from whites. The government set a goal to create new jobs and have a
strong economy after apartheid ended. However, since then, new jobs have not developed.
25.2 percent of South Africans are unemployed. There are now more than 5 million people
without jobs.

"I Can't Wait"

Sibusiso Ngcobr has grown impatient. The 24-year-old says he cannot wait for the
government to make a job for him.

“It is hard to find a job. He adds, "I can’t wait. I have to eat, I have brothers to support, I
have a family to feed.”

He is finding ways to create his own opportunities. Many other South Africans are doing the
same.

Ngcobr started his own company last year. He is selling goods in Johannesburg.

Ngcobr says that the government tries to help small-business owners. However, all of the
rules make it complicated,. Ngcobr says, "Coming from a previously disadvantaged
background, you don't have security, your house is just a small house, then you go to the
bank, you have a great brilliant idea." However, he says that the banks need something
from the borrower to secure the loan in case it cannot be paid back. That something can be
a piece of property, like a house. So a poor person like Ngcobr with no property has to start
from nothing.

The Waterless Shower

Ludwick Marishane also started from nothing. His first businesses began when he was a
teenager. He lived in a poor area in the north of South Africa. Some of Marishane's ideas
failed. Then, he had an idea while lying in the sun.

His friend did not want to take a bath and wondered why no one had invented way to avoid
showering. A few years later, Marishane created the Dry Bath Gel. The waterless shower
product saves time. It also helps those who do not have water.

Marishane wrote a business plan in his last year of high school. “I would have to use the
local computer café," he says. It cost about $2 an hour to use the Internet. Marishane says,
"My allowance was $5, that was my pocket money and lunch money.”

He sent the plan to 80 possible investors. However, Marishane says none were willing to
take a risk. He was a young inventor with a product that they thought would mostly help the
poor.
Marishane says, “I looked at different sources. The different banking loans and the different
development loans that government had made available in South Africa." He says that it
was hard to get a loan. Marishane also says, "At the same time, my business, it wasn’t a
bankable idea." So he entered his product into competitions. Marishane slowly gained
money to develop his business.

Education Is Key

Today, his company claims to have provided almost 446,000 products. The company says
that it has saved over 35.6 million liters (9 million gallons) of water. That savings is
important because South Africa has a water crisis.

Marishane says education is one of the biggest advantages in starting a business. Jason
Basel of Àkro Organization agrees. His company helps young people start businesses.
Basel says, “Entrepreneurship and education, that’s how you solve unemployment. Full
stop, there are no two ways about it."

Many of South Africa's youth dream of starting businesses. There is no lack of talent. What
the country needs are services to help make those dreams come true.

____________________________

Parker, Gillian, Voice of America (Ed. Newsela staff). "Entrepreneurship Seen as Solution
to S. Africa's Unemployment Crisis." 22 May 2014.
Web: http://www.voanews.com/content/entrepreneurship-seen-as-a-solution-to-south-
africas-unemployment-crisis/1920230.html

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