Youth Social Entrepreneurship and Post Covid-19 Recovery in Zambia

Abstract

Young entrepreneurs' involvement in social entrepreneurship is gaining momentum, more so after the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact of their active participation in social enterprises is tremendous. Social entrepreneurship applies the principles and guidance used by start-up founders and entrepreneurs to a business that directly generates social change or impacts a social cause. A social entrepreneur is primarily motivated by a desire to alleviate some kind of systemic social or cultural problem. As younger generation creates and leads social enterprises, self-identity that entails their leadership can bring benefits to various stakeholders. In particular, the engagement of younger generation in social entrepreneurship leading to positive innovative developments that bring impact not only to the founders but also to the employees, volunteers and recipients of the product and services offered by the social enterprise. In this context, the paper explains the importance of youth social entrepreneurship post Covid-19 in society-building, looking into how it creates values to its participants in regard to personal growth and development. The objective of this paper is to elucidate the emergency of social entrepreneurship post Covid-19. The paper maps the characteristics of social entrepreneurs to the characteristics of young people with focus on the development of personal, social and role identities. The paper also explains the significance of young social entrepreneurs' participation in social activities for the income generation and how it directly and indirectly contributes to a balanced societal development