Potential of youths with disabilities

By Winston Muleba Junior

The route into enterprise for disabled people comes from a variety of sources. It is important to look at the spur behind the individual as what motivates one person does not motivate another. 

Many considers that the motivations are same as for non-disabled, and there is a danger of stereotyping thus we should not define people by their disability for the reason that it is an entrepreneur with a disability NOT a disabled entrepreneur .This means that Disability is not inability. As such not all disabled people are the same: they are women and men, boys and girls, with a range of physical, sensory, intellectual or psycho-social impairments, which in interplay with various barriers may hinder their full participation in society on an equal basis with others. They have different skills, abilities and interests - but many share the experience of social and economic exclusion resulting from disability.

According to the ILO-Irish Aid partnership Programme, a research which was conducted on a Case Study Women Entrepreneurs in Zambia. Mobility impaired Christine Kumwenda at the age of 35 years old was physically disabled. She acquired the disability when she was two years old. “At the age of two years old, both of her legs where swollen and were operated on. The doctor cut her back vein during the operation and this caused her disability”. Christine started tailoring and knitting as her business. She started this business after attending college training in industrial tailoring in Ndola. Her reason for starting a business was to take care of herself especially that she was disabled and that tailoring was her career. “She started the business by just hiring a machine and paid something and she initially used to ask her friends what to make and also copied ideas from them”.

Christine did not have enough capital for her business, so she started sewing for people who already had materials so that she makes the outfits and only charge labour. This is how she managed to earned a bit of her capital.

In no time she established her business. However in times big orders, she hired somebody to help do the work. “She could pay the hired person and herself”. She confirmed that the money realized from her business was sustenance to her life.

She said she would appreciate being trained in business management and was willing to pay for the training. Before starting her own business she used to depend on other people. Christine’s words of encouragement to other people with disability were that, they start businesses because it enables them take care of themselves, and the community eventually respect them. She further appealed to her other women who want start or grow their business, she advised them not to have a lot of fast money but they should keep on working hard and never lose hope. Her suggestion for the project was that, “the ILO project should continue helping women entrepreneurs by giving them more training because knowledge is power and also give financial support if possible”.

Many people have a more ‘entrepreneurial character’ and are innately entrepreneurial they would have set up a business anyway, whether disabled or not. “It believed that disabled entrepreneurs are as motivated as non-disabled, the passion for business will be the same in both cases”. But it is recognized that ‘cannot find a job’ is a key push factor for disabled people considering self-employment or setting up a business. Entrepreneurship is now seen as a vital component in the every country’s economy, promoting economic growth and fuelling positive changes in attitude towards business. It has been a vehicle used by immigrants, women, minorities and historically disadvantaged populations to secure a foothold in the employment market and eventual economic independence. 

Trevor Baylis, an inventor of the Clock Work Radio, said: there is a need to create a culture which encourages and nurtures innovation across all groups in society. This is especially true for the older generation who has built up experience during their careers which enables them to identify and act on business ideas quickly and effectively. It seems to me that chance favours the prepared mind and I see some of the best innovations coming from the youths with disability because of their potential.

Self-employment is a viable option for disabled people. It must also be understood that there are some differences between people disabled at birth and people disabled later in life – as these have to adapt to their changed services but all in all they all have the potential to venture into entrepreneurship.  To this effect  a disabled person who is desirous of starting a small business should prepare himself or herself first by evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, get a partner to compensate for their weakness, and write a business plan where necessary  (Hamilton, 1992). One way of preparing is to get business or work experience if this is a weak area. Entrepreneurship being a Self-employment jobs, can offer lifestyle opportunities that employment does not. There are, however, many drawbacks to self-employment and substantial barriers in a transition from unemployment/on state benefits to self-employment for any individual, yet alone anyone with a disability. As technology is advancing, disabled business self-help groups grow, and acceptance of the disabled entrepreneur growing, it is required that more persons with disabilities start their own enterprises and become a new force in the business world.

Those who provide business assistance need to recognize the different need levels of disabled entrepreneurs. The experienced entrepreneurs who have become disabled during his or her adult life may need training in certain business areas to shore up weaknesses. Those would-be entrepreneurs who have a skill which may be marketable, but lack business experience and/or knowledge, will need a higher level of training. Lastly, the disabled entrepreneur may need special training in the technology which may allow him or her to operate a small business, e.g., how to operate a voice-activated computer. Providers of business counseling and training should recognize that disabled entrepreneurs have the same characteristics as those of non-disabled entrepreneurs. These include the circumstances of the decision to start a business, attitudes, and risk-propensity. Business opportunities for them are not limited by their physical capabilities but by institutional barriers, especially that of procuring funding.

The ILO DEWD project which operated in five African countries (2001 - 2007), provided training to women with disabilities in micro-enterprise and vocational skills and improved their access to credit and business development services. The beneficiaries took part in the training programmes run for non-disabled women under another project - Women's Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality (WEDGE). Through DEWD some 450 women with disabilities gained new skills and enhanced their businesses. The project also pilot-tested an innovative inclusion approach that is now endorsed in the ILO strategy for Promoting Women's Entrepreneurship Development. This is just one of the examples that took place some time back in 2007.

One of the biggest obstacles for the disabled entrepreneur is breaking through the stereotypes others have about being disabled. Entrepreneurs who are disabled must overcome false public perceptions of their capabilities (Hamilton, 1992). It is a myth that the physically disabled are, by definition, dependent. However, many have to overcome their learned dependency on income from government programs, (Kohout, 1994). Also, while some may see entrepreneurs as high risk takers, (Krasner 1991) found, in fact, that entrepreneurs are low risk takers and that entrepreneurs with disabilities had the same low propensity for risk-taking as their non-disabled counterparts.