A team from Sir Pierre van Ryneveld High School came second at the 2018 Step Up 2 A Start Up National Youth Entrepreneurship Awards.
The awards evening in Pretoria on December 5 was the culmination of a five-month entrepreneurship development programme and competition targeted at 12 000 secondary school learners and made possible by key sponsors Standard Bank, Sasol, the MTN Foundation, Tsogo Sun with the support of SEDA and the Department of Small Business Development.
As part of the continent with the highest population of young people on the planet, South Africa must have a viable and sustainable solution to propel youth into job creation as opposed to adopting a job-seeking mindset. Now in its fifth year, Step Up 2 A Start Up, a leading national youth entrepreneurship initiative run by Primestars, has been identified as one such solution.
Grade Nine to 11 learners began their journey into tech entrepreneurship through the Step Up 2 A Start Up programme at Ster Kinekor cinemas nationwide in August. This year, the programme was activated through national screenings of the film titled, Ikusasa Lethu (Our Future), a story of a young woman who discovers technology, creates a business, adapts her business as she learns what works and, as a result, changes her future and the future of her community.
“Our Step Up 2 A Start Up programme teaches vital lessons in entrepreneurship to thousands of South African learners through edutainment. Each year the programme focuses on global trends in entrepreneurship, seeking to inspire participants to explore these in the context of their surroundings – looking for business solutions to real problems in their communities,” said Martin Sweet, managing director of Primestars.
At the cinema, learners received a toolkit which reinforced the lessons communicated throughout the movie. The toolkit assisted learners in implementing the skills learned to develop their own business ideas and model canvasses and enter the Step Up 2 A Start Up Tech Entrepreneurship Competition.
With input from industry leaders and experts, the top nine entrepreneurial teams in South Africa that demonstrated the most innovative tech-enabled business models were identified to take up the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The teams were brought to Johannesburg for an intensive four-day entrepreneurship boot camp which led up to the teams presenting their business models to judges in hopes of winning some of the amazing prizes up for grabs and, of course, officially becoming the 2018 Step Up Young Entrepreneurs of the Year.
First place went to the team from Charlotte Maxeke Secondary School with their app, Find my Kgontshe. It is an accommodation booking app for the lower income market.
The two team members were Nobuhle Motlounu and Babongile Maqutha, both Grade Nine learners.
Sir Pierre van Ryneveld High School’s team of three Grade 11 learners, Tshegofatso Mathabe, Anele Mahasela and Tsholofelo Moetji, took second place with their app On the Go.
The app does hospital appointments to avoid long queues.
Two Grade 11 learners from Secunda High School, Mmamokgele Mphokane and Caitlin Murray, came third. Their app connects companies/people looking to donate resources with deserving charities.
All finalists were awarded prizes valued at over R2.5-million, comprising bursaries, business incubation, cash and gadgets, among others.
