Author(s): Marlin Hoffman and Ricardo Peters
Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship have been identified as alleviators of unemployment, poverty and slow economic growth. The National Development Plan 2030 (2012) indicated that 11 million jobs are needed by the year 2030 and to realise this country need to produce entrepreneurs. It has been established, in research, that entrepreneurship education has an encouraging effect on entrepreneurship. This study looked at universities, within the Western Cape, South Africa, as a possible a pipeline of entrepreneurs that would enter the economy after completing their entrepreneurship studies. The study used the Theory of Planned Behaviour to determine the predictors of entrepreneurial intention of the students. The factors that influences entrepreneurial intention, used in this study, was attitude towards entrepreneurship, role models, entrepreneurial leaders and resources and opportunities at universities.240 students were interviewed and a questionnaire was developed and tested for the purpose of this study. The model yielded a variance of 57.6%, explaining the entrepreneurial intention of students. Understanding the influencers of entrepreneurial intention will assist in the development of entrepreneurship programs at universities and what is required to increase entrepreneurial intention which ultimately leads to entrepreneurial behaviour.