Young entrepreneurs and brand builders gathered on September 2 for the fifth annual Top 16 Youth-Owned Brands Awards (Yoba).

The evening celebrated youth-owned businesses, their achievements and the entrepreneurs behind some of the country’s emerging brands.

Founded by Pat Mahlangu, CEO and founder of Pat on Brands, the awards have grown into a platform aimed at recognising young people who are building businesses and creating opportunities despite the challenges faced by entrepreneurs.

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Addressing guests and finalists, Mahlangu said the platform was created partly to challenge the negative narrative often associated with young South Africans.

“When we talk about young people in the media, it is always that young people are lazy, apathetic, entitled, unemployed and so on,” Mahlangu said. Yoba was created to show that there are young people doing exceptional work who often need recognition and encouragement.

“I believe that recognition can be the greatest motivation.” He encouraged young entrepreneurs to remember that building a business is rarely as glamorous as the finished product or success stories suggest.

“Very few people see what it costs to build,” he said. “They don’t see the sleepless nights. They don’t see the cash-flow conversations. They don’t see the deals that fall through.”

He also spoke about his own experience of organising the awards, including the difficult decision to postpone the event from June to September. For Mahlangu, the decision demonstrated an important part of entrepreneurship: knowing when difficult choices have to be made to protect what is being built.

“Sometimes leadership is also not about pretending that everything is okay,” he said. “It is about making those difficult decisions to protect what you are building.”

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After regrouping, continuing to approach sponsors and sending proposals, Mahlangu said the team was finally able to bring the fifth edition of the awards to life at Summer Place.

His message to the young entrepreneurs in the room was simple: “There is no substitute for hard work and resilience. Resilience is the ability to keep going when the going gets tough.” Mahlangu also reminded finalists that being recognised among the country’s leading youth-owned brands was an achievement in itself.

He said the awards received more than 2 000 entries, which were narrowed down to the finalists and ultimately the Top 16. The evening also recognised the contribution of sponsors and partners who have supported the awards since their inception.

Mahlangu thanked the event’s longstanding media partner, CBC, as well as Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa and Brands Africa, among others, for continuing to support the platform. Reflecting on five years of Yoba, he said the journey had not always been easy, but the continued support demonstrated the belief that young people can play an important role in shaping South Africa’s future.

“To the builders, to the believers, to the next generation of iconic African brands, five years in, all I can say is we have only just started,” he said.

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