Entrepreneurship competition to uplift youth
This initiative, called Youth in Action Awards, is the first of its kind for the West Rand.
During last year, a call was made to the youth of the West Rand to enter a Youth Social Entrepreneurship Competition which will culminate in a Youth Awards Ceremony at the end of June.
This initiative, called Youth in Action Awards, is the first of its kind for the West Rand. To enter the competition, interested parties were required to come up with initiatives in the form of products and services that will help address some of the challenges in their communities and improve the quality of life.
To date, several entries with the potential to make a huge difference in terms of skills development, job creation and poverty alleviation, have been received.
“Given that these awards are the first of their kind for the West Rand, the response from the youth is very encouraging. The competition and the awards will run annually. I am hopeful that as the years go by there will be more appetite from the youth to participate”, organiser Zinhle Dlamini said.
She was also thrilled to share some of the entries received from the youth. One of the participants, Boitumelo Gaduka, wants to start a bottle recycling project. She will collect empty alcohol bottles and turn them into beautiful vases by painting them.
She wants to share this skill with other youth, especially those who dropped out of school due to teenage pregnancy.
Another entry is that of Rene Mokua and Stephen Malapane who came up with an up-cycling initiative. They convert waste such as old car tyres, paint them and transform them into coffee tables and chairs. They also use old furniture and car parts to turn them into new and usable items such as lamps.
Rene and Stephen collect these old items from the community and in exchange they give the community bags of potatoes and other food items.
A third entry is from Giovanni Pitt who aims to provide job readiness training. This involves teaching the youth how to compile CVs, dress for interviews and conduct themselves during interviews. He is also interested in developing the arts, sports and culture among the youth. Activities include ballet, karate, boxing and swimming.
Other entries were submitted by Keamogetswe Molefe, Nonhlanhla Nyathi and Tafadzwa Musarurwa.
The Awards is an initiative of Word In Action Ministries in Roodepoort, a church which was founded by Pastor Maurice Bouman. Although the awards are an initiative of the church, the competition remains open to all the youth of the West Rand.
“We will continue to support whoever wins by seeking business training opportunities for them through the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller and other training avenues.
We would also like to help them participate in the mainstream market by supplying big retail outlets with the products they make”, Zinhle said.
“I am excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for the youth of the West Rand. Indeed the future looks bright.”
However, at the moment they have not yet secured any sponsors to make the inaugural West Rand Youth In Action Awards a reality. They are thus calling on potential sponsors for help. If you would like to help, feel free to send an email to zmdlamini@gmail.com.
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