Making Youth Entrepreneurship Work in Sub-Saharan Africa: Some Factors of Success

Abstract

The need to foster private sector development and to combat youth unemployment has made youth entrepreneurship a very attractive option. The present paper tries to identify key factors determining successful entrepreneurship especially in developing countries in SubSaharan Africa, starting from evidence from both poor and rich economies. Primary and secondary data from the International Labour Organization as well as secondary data from other institutions have been used. It appears that a young entrepreneur aged 25 34, welleducated, with a strong social capital and living in a country with a culture favourable to entrepreneurship and where there are positive perceptions of the attitude of the youth towards entrepreneurship is more likely to be successful than other young entrepreneurs.