02 Jul 2014

Youth entrepreneurs are forced to relocate their businesses from one place to another in search of cheaper office space.

One of the biggest problems faced by most youth projects is high rentals which force them to relocate their businesses from one place to another in search of cheaper office space.

Despite government efforts to finance and develop youth owned businesses, shortage of land and affordable office space is a huge challenge.

Youth entrepreneurs are forced to pay high rentals or relocate their businesses to obscure and unfavourable locations where they are not clearly visible to their customers.

With limited resources, young entrepreneurs are also forced to exhaust the little money they are making to advertise their products and services while others end up opting to operate from their residences.

Mathews Kitsane is one of the many youth entrepreneurs who benefitted from government funding through the Youth Development fund (YDF). He said many youth owned enterprises have to deal with the problem of high rentals that force them to operate from unfavourable locations.

“I operate a photo studio and the ideal location for such a business is a busy shopping complex where there is high traffic of people. But I cannot afford such a place and my business is now suffering,” he said.

As a result, he was forced to move his business from one place to another, which resulted in loss of customers. He said most youth businesses are undone by the fact that they are located in hidden places that are not easily accessible to customers. He added that it is a challenge to give people directions to where his business is located.

“I lose customers every day because they can’t locate my business without directions. Apart from the high rentals, I still have to repay the YDF loan through monthly instalments,” he said.

Kitsane said the little money he generates from the business is exhausted in paying for office space, servicing the YDF loan and paying operating expenses. He appealed to government to build a market place where youth owned businesses can operate from before they are allowed to compete for rental space with more established businesses.

“We can’t cope with these high rentals. We are forced to operate in back alleys where we lose a lot of customers. In the end our businesses collapse,” he said.

Motswedi Basupi of Joypad Entertainment operates an internet café that also offers secretarial services. He is also faced with a similar problem of high rentals as he pays P2 500 a month for his office on top of the P800 instalment for the YDF loan. Basupi said after paying off his expenses he is not left with enough to plough back into the business and make it grow.  ENDS