Question NW134 to the Minister of Small Business Development

Reply:

I have been advised that:

(a)&(b)The Entrepreneurship in Schools programme is a partnership that involves a lot of private sector stakeholders. The owner and custodian are PrimeStars, the Corporate Social Investment (CSI) arm of Prime Media. Other partners include the following: SAPPI, the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda), EOH, Allan and Gill Gray Philanthropies, Omnia, 3M, AECI, Safripol, Mulilo, BTE Renewables, Richfield, University of Johannesburg, Raizcorp, Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, Zutari, Women’s Development Business, Buhle Waste, Proudly SA, Uber, Tourvest Travel Services, Protea Hotel Marriot, Sizwe IT, Versapak, Airlink, Nando’s and Lift.

IMPLEMENTATION APPROACH

Since the inception of the programme, the Seda has supported seventy-six thousand nine hundred and ninety-one (76 991) beneficiaries with a budget spent of R3 million as per table below:

NO	FINANCIAL YEAR	NO OF BENEFICIARIES	BUDGET SPENT
1.	2019-2020	12,030	500,000
2.	2021-2022	11,513	500,000
3.	2022-2023	13,218	500,000
5.	2023 -2024	13,109	500,000
	TOTAL	76,991	3,000,000

The programme makes use of the cinema infrastructure to expose Grade 9 to 12 learners and Educators to entrepreneurship through an entrepreneurial education movie aimed at empowering and entertaining secondary school youth about entrepreneurship and starting their own businesses. The theme changes every year, but the focus is always on encouraging business ideas that will solve existing social, environmental and health problems.

The programme has two main components: creating awareness about entrepreneurship and financial literacy (hence the big number at the beginning) and the competition which culminates into a bootcamp at the end of the year.

The total number of schools that benefited from the programme over the six-year period are six hundred and twenty six (626). The role of Seda is as follows:

• Assists with the running and judging of the final competition as “investor pitching” including master classes on “technology and innovation” and “pitch preparation”.
• Provide top three winners with access to relevant Seda support. These potential entrepreneurs would have much more refined ideas, stronger business cases, knowledge, and experience, to work with, to be guided through the process of setting up a business, if necessary, with partners over 18 years of age, in a schedule that does not jeopardise their schooling.
• Seda is committed to assist all the beneficiaries of the programme and they are encouraged to visit Seda branches to turn their ideas into businesses.

STATUS OF THE PROGRAMME TO DATE FOR 2023/2024 FINANCIAL YEAR

• Thirteen thousand one hundred and nine (13 109) learners and two hundred and five (205) educators were exposed to entrepreneurial education film.
• 98% of the beneficiaries were Africans and the gender representation was as follows: 57% of females benefited from the programme whereas males were 43%.
• Learners were encouraged to enter the competition and adjudication of the entries took place. Ten (10) teams were selected and participated in a boot camp that took place on the 8-11 December 2023. The dragon’s den was hosted on 11 December 2023 at Protea Hotel, Wanderers in Johannesburg to choose the three viable business ideas.
• The Step-Up 2 A Green Start-Up National Youth Entrepreneurship Awards ceremony was hosted on 12 December 2023 at Nedbank Rivonia in Sandton. The Minister of Small Business Development, Ms. Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, graced the event with her presence and delivered the keynote address.
• The finalists comprising of twenty-eight (28) learners and nine (9) educators were awarded with over R4 million in prizes which included bursaries, incubation, entrepreneurial programmes, shopping voucher, application development, seed funding and tablets. These came from the different sponsors of the programme that are listed above. The finalists represented Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Northern Cape.
• A team of three learners from Leap Science and Maths in Alexandra, Gauteng were announced as overall winners of the 2023 Step Up 2A Green Start Up National Youth Entrepreneurship Awards for their business solution of producing of eco-brick which was made from recyclable materials such as plastic, paper or glass brought together by a little cement. Those eco bricks will be used to build houses for those in need and address the challenges related to inadequate housing, pollution, unemployment and poverty within their community and the country as whole.
• The second winner was from Mehlwana Secondary School in Ogies, Mpumalanga. They introduced a way of collecting waste through smart bins. These bins are paired with a mobile app that automatically alerts service provider when the bins reach the full capacity and ready to be collected.
• The third winner was from Sir Pierre Van Ryneveld High School in Kempton Park, Gauteng, their business idea centered on sustainable construction for those in need by using repurpose recyclable materials into wall panels to build houses.

UPDATES ON 2022 WINNERS

• The first-place winner was Sibusisiwe Comp Tech High School from Umbumbulu in KwaZulu-Natal. The idea was to create an affordable source of energy using eco-friendly coal sourced from marula nuts. The Eco Trio received R20 000 from the Youth Start Foundation to start a business. They started a business of nut processing in January 2023, this entails converting marula nut into coal.
• The second-place winner was Leap Science and Maths High School from Alexandra in Gauteng. The idea was to make use of the recycled paper to create “eco log bricks” as an alternative to coal used for fire. The eco log brick making business was not implemented as planned due to lack of resources. As both first and second place winners are still in grade 12 this year, after writing their exams, the Seda branches (eThekwini and Johannesburg) will train them on basic business skills and assist them to turn the idea into a business.
• The third-place winner was Buhlebezile Secondary School from Thokoza in Gauteng. The idea was to extract raw materials from electronic devices, reselling precious metals and repurposing the plastic waste into tar used for road construction. The team completed their matric in 2022 and each member received a degree bursary from Richfield Institute to the value of R112 000. Both students are studying at Richfield Institute and have applied to Johannesburg Business School of Entrepreneurship Development Programme to study further.

IMPACT OF THE PROGRAMME TO ALUMNI

• Gontse Selaocoe is the owner of All Day Jam based in Orange Farm in Johannesburg which employ 5 people. Mr Selaocoe took part in the programme in 2017 when he was in Grade 11 and made it to Top 10. He contacted Seda for assistance, he was assisted with product testing, marketing assistance and he participated on the art of pitch for funding competition. He was one of the winners of 2022 Seda National Pitch for Funding Champion in which he received the R500 000.
• Palesa Machaka is the owner of Coiggy (Pty) Ltd – Fintech company with 2 employees. Primestars supported her on her journey, offered resources to start her business and referred her to relevant network. Coiggy (Pty) Ltd is a fintech start-up company with the aim of fostering financial savviness amongst the youth in Southern Africa – by revolutionising the use of loyalty programmes and breaking stereotypes around saving and investing money. This company planned to redefine the financial ecosystem, making financial services more secure and inclusive for all, from a township to global scale.
• Brian Mlambo is a CEO of Akha Ventures. Akha Ventures is at the forefront of championing digital transformation in Africa. Rooted in a profound dedication to the empowerment of small and medium-sized enterprises, the company serves as an indispensable ally to SMEs, ensuring they are equipped with the pivotal tools and insights required to flourish in today's digital era. This unwavering commitment to transformation has borne tangible results, with Akha Ventures successfully aiding over 5,000 businesses in establishing their digital presence and organizing, more than 100 business-centric events, including insightful masterclasses and fireside chats which has enabled them to build a database of over 35,000 SMEs in South Africa in 5 years.