Chapter 18: The Entrepreneur at the Centre of Entrepreneurship Development Support: More Novel than Obvious? Lessons from South Africa

As a result of its history, South Africa faces many structural issues, the most common of which is unemployment, which reinforces issues related to poverty and social and economic inequality within its borders. Organisations such as the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) provide a method of solving for this by convening a network of intermediaries who believe in their vision; to propel entrepreneurship in emerging markets to eradicate poverty. Organisations based in South Africa who are part of the ANDE network, share this sentiment and believe their contribution will be more impactful through collaborative methods that help entrepreneurs reach their highest potential. This chapter includes insights from four of these member organisations, namely Riversands Incubation Hub, Property Point, the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation and Impact Hub Joburg. All organisations work to foster entrepreneurship. However, their interventions challenge ‘standard’ methods of business development, particularly because they place the entrepreneurs they support at the centre of their programme design. As this chapter demonstrates, there is no single way to foster entrepreneurship and break the cycle of poverty; however, interventions cannot be successful without truly placing the entrepreneur at the centre.