As rising unemployment levels continually erode job opportunities in South Africa, it is sensible
to assume that entrepreneurship would be considered as the next-best career option; however, university
graduates show very little interest in becoming entrepreneurs. Having observed this disinterest, South
African economic policies have put in place initiatives encouraging youth entrepreneurship; however,
these have failed to significantly affect the willingness to engage in entrepreneurial activities. It is against
this background that this paper investigates barriers to entrepreneurship as experienced by students. A
survey of 235 university students was conducted. Their views regarding entrepreneurship were collected
by means of self-completion questionnaires and studied using cluster analysis. It was concluded that a
taxonomy of two distinct categories of student exist – sceptics and optimists – based on respondents’
predispositions to entrepreneurship barriers. The author identifies the themes that underlie the
formation of the taxonomy, namely, family and social influence, exposure to entrepreneurial activity,
entrepreneurial support, and education. The paper concludes with a discussion of practical solutions and
strategies to mitigate the problem of a lack of student entrepreneurship.