The effects of poverty remain continuous in the third world, with the youth being amongst the hardest hit groups in society. The minimal levels of skills among the youth, coupled with a very limited access to financial facilities undermine their abilities to exploit resources that may be available to them to enable them to start their businesses. While the youth should be a priority in the economic growth and poverty eradication targets of the third world states, small business development initiatives and entrepreneurship education become the best options to equip them with the necessary skills to start their own businesses that would create employment for themselves and their unemployed peers. This study evaluates the Start and Improve Your Business Youth Entrepreneurship training program implemented in Lesotho in 2007. It is anchors on a view that entrepreneurship education is a good strategy to equip the youth with the necessary skills to enable them to start their own businesses to create their own employment and that of their unemployed peers. It goes further to suggest that an effective entrepreneurship program is one that goes beyond classroom learning to emphasise action based learning, for a sustained small business sector and generation of sufficient employment prospects.

Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Business Administration in Entrepreneurship in the Faculty of Business at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2013 / Tourism is a fast growing industry and has the potential for poverty alleviation for rural persons. Butha-Buthe, being in a rural area of Lesotho, has magnificent scenery of mountains, attractions to be visited, and adventure activities to be done. However, tourism in Butha-Buthe is under-developed, and it is very important to identify tourism’s potential in this area and explore how SMMEs could contribute in the development of tourism. Therefore the objective of this study is to examine the economic role of small, medium and micro enterprises in the development of tourism in Butha-Buthe. Challenges faced by the SMMEs include lack of resources such as poor infrastructure poor roads, transportation, and a lack of network-communication. Other challenges would be poor business skills in regards to employment and management which leads to business failure. To accomplish the study objective, questionnaires were distributed to local entrepreneurs in Butha-Buthe, local communities, local government and other stake-holders in the district. In addition, a mixed method of research was carefully and logically planned and then implemented. A survey questionnaire was used to obtain the views of the different stakeholders. The questionnaires were collected and data analysed which allowed the researcher to draw conclusions and propose a range of recommendations based on the findings, to assist in the development of tourism in Butha-Buthe. The findings revealed that there is huge potential of tourism development in Butha-Buthe through the SMME sector, but that there are still challenges faced by SMMEs in this district, despite the economic contribution they make. However, through the support of the government and private sectors these challenges should be dealt with.