Advanced International Journal for Research

E-ISSN: 3048-7641   •   Impact Factor: 9.11

A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Bi-monthly Scholarly International Journal

Call for Paper Volume 7, Issue 4 (July-August 2026) Submit your research before last 3 days of August to publish your research paper in the issue of July-August.
Submit Research Paper Join as a Reviewer

Plagiarism is checked by the leading plagiarism checker TurnItIn

Call for Paper

Volume 7 Issue 4
July-August 2026

Submit your research paper

Indexing Partners
Academia Advanced Sciences Index Bielefeld Academic Search Engine CiteSeer DRJI Google Scholar Independent Search Engine & Directory Network ISI (International Scientific Indexing) Issuu Mendeley Research Networks
RefSeek ResearcherId - Thomson Reuters ResearchGate Scirus Scribd Semantic Scholar Wiki for Call for Papers WorldCat Zenodo

Opportunity Pathways for Youth Entrepreneurship in Zambia’s Eastern Province: A Qualitative Study of Enablers, Motivation and Enterprise Entry

Author(s) Ms. Bridget Phiri, Dr. Chipeta Eleanor Meda, Professor Mpundu Mubanga
Country Zambia
Abstract Youth entrepreneurship is widely promoted as a pathway for employment creation, livelihood security and inclusive development in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, much of the literature still describes young entrepreneurs mainly through the language of barriers, informality and survival. This qualitative article retains the original focus of the study by examining Objective One of a broader doctoral research project: to identify the key opportunities that motivate youth entrepreneurs to engage in business activities in Eastern Province, Zambia. The study was guided by the question: What opportunities motivate youth entrepreneurs to engage in business activities in Zambia’s Eastern Province? Data were generated from 50 in-depth interviews with youth entrepreneurs, 10 key informant interviews and three focus group discussions involving 24 participants in Chipata, Petauke and Lundazi districts. The study used the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation and Behaviour (COM-B) model to interpret entrepreneurship as a behavioural process shaped by motivation, external opportunity and practical capability. Thematic analysis was conducted with support from NVivo. Findings show that youth entrepreneurship in Eastern Province is shaped by necessity-mediated opportunity recognition. Young people enter business because of unemployment, income insecurity and household responsibilities, but they also identify real opportunities in agriculture, agribusiness, agro-processing, mobile money, digital platforms, cooperatives, Constituency Development Fund-linked support, local trading and cross-border commerce. The article contributes by shifting the discussion from a deficit-based view of youth enterprise towards an opportunity-pathway perspective that recognises young people as active economic agents working within constrained rural and semi-urban ecosystems.
Keywords youth entrepreneurship; opportunity recognition; COM-B model; cooperatives; agribusiness; digital entrepreneurship; Zambia
Field Business Administration
Published In Volume 7, Issue 3, May-June 2026
Published On 2026-06-30
View / Download PDF File

Share this



E-ISSN 3048-7641
CrossRef

CrossRef DOI is assigned to each research paper published in our journal.

AIJFR DOI prefix is
10.63363/aijfr

Downloads
Research Paper Format Copyright Permission Form and Undertaking Form Cover Page Vol 7 Isu 4Cover Page Vol 7 Isu 3Cover Page Vol 7 Isu 2

All research papers published on this website are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, and all rights belong to their respective authors/researchers.

CC-BY-SA Open Access

About AIJFR
Fees & Payment
Current Issue
Publication Archive 		Submit Research Paper
Track Submission Status
Publication Guidelines
Publication Ethics
Peer Review & Plagiarism 		Join as a Reviewer
Editors & Reviewers
Reviewer Referral Program
Get Reviewer Membership Certi. 		Website/Journal Policies
Usage Policy
Content Policies
Privacy Policy
Contact Us +91-9898-79-39-59 editor@aijfr.com