Action Lab – Unlocking Entrepreneurship in South Africa’s townships

While there are existing programs that support livelihood entrepreneurs in township settings, there are major gaps limiting their effectiveness in unlocking the potential of entrepreneurship for lifting up township economies. To address these systemic challenges, the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) will facilitate Action Labs in Johannesburg and Cape Town, which will bring together key stakeholders to collaborate on a joint solution.

ANDE’s Action Lab methodology is a design thinking approach to engaging relevant local stakeholders around a shared challenge in order to ideate, validate and then eventually pilot a novel approach to a problem. In this case, we would bring together potential investors, existing practitioners and entrepreneurs working in townships, government policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders to design and pilot a program that would effectively bridge this gap in services. The process would be informed by ANDE’s research on township ecosystems and will also have the benefit of engaging key institutional stakeholders who play an essential role in the ecosystem to better understand the barriers and realities these entrepreneurs face.

The ultimate goals of these Action Labs will be:

• A design journey or sprint for producing a solution prototype to challenges faced by entrepreneurs in township economies
• Presentation of a systemic solution to unlocking entrepreneurship in township economies

Click here to attend via Zoom.