Unemployed Graduates’ Business Cooperative Formation Prospects and Challenges in Response to Unemployment: A Descriptive Study of a South African Municipality

Abstract

The study investigates unemployed graduates’ cooperative formation prospects in response to unemployment in Ntabankulu Local  Municipality. The study’s main objective is to explore unemployed graduates’ cooperative formation prospects and challenges in  response to unemployment. The study adopted a theory of People-Centred Development, which entails the cooperation of individuals  from a community upping their own institutional abilities to mobilise resources as well as managing them to create a sustainable and  equal distribution thereof. The study followed a quantitative research approach, where a survey instrument was employed to collect  relevant data from the sample, and a descriptive tool was used to analyse and present the data. This study made use of a sample of 120  participants drawn through a stratified random technique from the unemployed graduate population in Ntabankulu Local Municipality.  Among other prospect criteria, the study found graduates having an idea of how to form a cooperative and the realisation that the  communities of this study are the right target for the formation of cooperatives. Therefore, unemployed graduates’ willingness to form  cooperatives is the most important pointer. Furthermore, the findings of the study revealed the obstacles to start-up cooperatives,  including lack of capital and limited resources. The critical challenges faced by the cooperatives, which result in closures within a very  short period after establishment, are the unavailability of financial support from relevant agencies, limited resources, and the absence of desired support from the government. The study concludes from these findings that they should form the basis for the design and  implementation of viable policy and practice towards the formation of unemployed graduates cooperatives in response to  unemployment in the South African context.