Harnessing the Power of Machine Learning to Identify Nascent Entrepreneurs

Abstract

The potential impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) on the world of work is not yet fully understood. One thing, however, is certain: the rapid changes that will be brought about by digitization will have a knock-on effect on the economy and will determine which types of jobs “survive” these changes. Entrepreneurs and SMMEs play a critical role in both the formal and informal sectors of the South African economy, where currently one in three adult workers are unemployed (Stats SA, 2018). However, funding and development opportunities have not kept pace with the large inflow of young job seekers into the formal and informal sectors of the economy. The current project aims to make use of machine learning and big data algorithms to optimise the scoring of Assessment Centre data, so that high-potential nascent entrepreneurs can be identified.