Entrepreneurship literacy in South Africa: The Imperative for Higher Education Institutions

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Entrepreneurship literacy has become a critical response to South Africa’s pressing socio-economic challenges, particularly high unemployment and poverty. This paper examines the role of higher education institutions (HEIs) in embedding entrepreneurship literacy into their curricula, going beyond traditional entrepreneurship education by integrating competencies such as innovation, economic management, and technological fluency across disciplines. Using a narrative literature review complemented by a meta-analytic synthesis, the study systematically analysed global and South African scholarship published between 2007 and 2025. The findings reveal that entrepreneurship literacy programmes have a moderate positive effect on students’ entrepreneurial intentions and self-efficacy, but only a small effect on actual venture creation, highlighting persistent structural barriers such as funding gaps, limited incubation, and insufficient staff training. In contrast, international contexts where entrepreneurship education is deeply integrated across disciplines show stronger outcomes. The study concludes that for South Africa to realise the transformative potential of entrepreneurship literacy, a unified national policy, adaptive curricula, academic staff development, and robust industry partnerships are essential. Without these systemic reforms, entrepreneurship literacy will remain an underutilised resource, but with them, it can become a cornerstone for innovation, employability, and inclusive economic growth.

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