A critical analysis of the financial challenges facing young entrepreneurs in Katutura

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study is to give a detailed analysis of the financial challenges facing young entrepreneurs in Katutura. Recently, entrepreneurship has taken a centre stage in the social and economic development of Namibia. Many small and medium enterprises have long acted as engines of economic growth. Entrepreneurship is beginning to be considered by many as a solution to unemployment and other socio-economic challenges like poverty. However, even for its great contributions to the Namibian nation, young people in Katutura are still facing financial problems in their businesses. The main objective of this research is to identify and analyze the financial issues facing young business owners and investigate the financial opportunities available for them. Primary data was obtained mainly from the use of a questionnaire. Open-ended and close-ended questions made up the questionnaire administered on 20 respondents. The researcher selected participants randomly residing in the different locations of Katutura, namely; Wanaheda, Soweto, Goreangab, Okurangava and Freedomland. However, a verbal interview was also used in some ways to complement the data that was obtained from the use of questionnaires. Secondary data used were obtained from journals, government publications, books, etc. that were written by a variety of scholars and were of interest to the study at hand. The major challenges facing young entrepreneurs in Katutura implicated by the findings of this study as undermining the smooth operations of youth enterprises in Katutura is cut across initial funding (start-up capital), many youths questioned expressed their views on how it is difficult in sourcing for funds when establishing businesses, other challenges hampering the full transaction of the young people in Katutura to fully fledge their business into financial independence are the lack of financial support from family and friends, lack of funds for running the operative activities in the business, Mismanagement of funds on unwanted products and costly overheads and not having a separate business account from their personal bank accounts. The study concludes that in order for Katutura to realize the full potential of its young entrepreneurs, a lot still needs to be done by the Namibian government and the financial institutions.