Earlier this year, Krutham was commissioned by Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and Yellowwoods to conduct research on how government and business can enable and unlock the potential of SMMEs (formal and informal) and township enterprises in addressing youth unemployment. The research focused on short-to-medium-term levers (one to five years), where existing initiatives and support systems can be used and scaled in five labour-intensive sectors: agro-processing, horticulture, tourism, logistics, and early childhood development (ECD). We conducted value chain analyses of these sectors to understand how both formal and informal SMMEs are currently integrated into these ecosystems and identified opportunities along these value chains where they exhibit the capacity to create and capture value. We outline some of the main findings and recommendations in this thought leadership piece.