Latest news with #youthentrepreneurship
Zawya
07-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Liquid Intelligent Technologies South Africa's Youth Tech Entrepreneurship Programme celebrates 20 graduates and crowns the winner of its tech start-up pitchathon
Liquid Intelligent Technologies (Liquid) ( a business of Cassava Technologies, a global technology leader of African heritage, has announced that twenty young entrepreneurs have graduated from its Youth Tech Entrepreneurship Programme. The year-long programme, currently running in the Eastern Cape and North West Province, aims to address youth unemployment through advanced digital skills development and entrepreneurial support. The graduates received their certificates of completion at Liquid's head office in Johannesburg on 25 June. The event culminated in four technology start-ups pitching their businesses to a panel of industry judges. ProLink ( a digital platform for connecting users with verified contractors in Mthatha, emerged as the winning start-up, securing R100,000 in seed funding and a 12-month business support package. 'This programme proves the impact of investing intentionally in South Africa's youth. By equipping young people with future-fit skills and entrepreneurial capabilities, Cassava Technologies is proud to support grassroots innovation that addresses real-world challenges. For us, it's about empowering the country's youth, not only to participate in the digital future, but actively shape it. Well done to all the graduates and the pitching start-ups, and congratulations to ProLink,' said Ziaad Suleman, CEO of Cassava Technologies in South Africa and Botswana. The programme has already begun delivering tangible results. ProLink has created two new employment opportunities, and Okuhle Badli, COO of Otomex Innovations and founder of Nhanha Technologies, has been appointed Co-Chair for AI, Digital Innovation, Education, and Future of Work for Y20 South Africa 2025, the official youth engagement group of the G20. 'This graduation and pitchathon represent the unlocking of potential and the enabling of a generation of digital entrepreneurs. These young innovators are building solutions that have the potential to scale nationally and across the continent. Along with our implementation partner Deviare, Liquid South Africa is proud to provide the resources to enable this,' said Valencia Risaba, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Liquid Intelligent Technologies South Africa. The other start-ups pitching their businesses were Otomex Innovations, which leverages AI to support mental health and well-being; The Eye of Tech, which expands access to digital skills in rural areas; and HerdTrace, a female-led agritech solution transforming livestock management. Participants received MICTSETA-accredited training in artificial intelligence and software development, along with comprehensive pre-incubation support designed to translate innovative ideas into commercially viable enterprises. All the start-ups secured Azure credits via the Microsoft Founders Hub. Initiatives like the Youth Tech Entrepreneurship Programme underscore Liquid South Africa's unwavering commitment to equipping young people with the technical and business skills necessary to thrive in the digital future. As South Africa celebrates Youth Month, it also represents a firm commitment to ensure that the country's youth can contribute meaningfully to the empowerment of themselves and their communities. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Liquid Intelligent Technologies. About Liquid Intelligent Technologies: Liquid Intelligent Technologies is a business of Cassava Technologies (Cassava), a technology company of African heritage with operations in 40-plus markets across Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, where the Cassava group companies operate. Liquid has firmly established itself as the leading provider of pan-African digital infrastructure with a 110,000 km-long fibre broadband network and satellite connectivity that provides high-speed access to the Internet anywhere in Africa. Liquid is also leveraging its digital network to provide Cloud and Cyber Security solutions through strategic partnerships with leading global players. Liquid is a comprehensive technology solutions group that provides customised digital solutions to public and private sector enterprises and SMEs across the continent. For more information, visit
Forbes
06-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
5 Business Ideas A Teen Entrepreneur Can Start Today With $0
teen entrepreneur celebrating launching a business Becoming a teen entrepreneur is gaining momentum. According to Junior Achievement, 66% of teens aged 13-17 express an interest in starting their businesses as adults. This shift represents more than a career trend—it signals a generation ready to create opportunities rather than wait for them. Many teenagers assume that starting a business requires a significant amount of capital. That assumption stops them before they begin. The reality? Most successful teen ventures start with existing skills, creativity, and minimal investment. Here are five accessible business models any motivated teen can launch today. 1. Academic Tutoring Services Parents actively seek affordable, reliable tutors who connect with their children, often preferring someone of a similar age who understands the current educational challenges their children face. At WIT (Whatever It Takes), the entrepreneurship program I founded in 2009, we've seen countless teens leverage their academic strengths into profitable tutoring services that require no upfront investment beyond time and expertise. Implementation strategy: Start with subjects where you consistently earn A's or higher. Create a concise one-page overview that highlights your qualifications, approach, and rates. Target families you know who have younger students who need support in your strongest subjects. Pricing approach: Charge $15-$30 per hour, depending on the subject complexity and local market rates. SAT/ACT prep and advanced subjects command higher fees. Virtual sessions eliminate transportation time, allowing you to serve more students efficiently. Growth potential: Secure 5-8 regular students at $20/hour for 2 hours weekly, and you'll generate $800-1,600 monthly. Word-of-mouth referrals drive sustainable growth in this field. 2. Social Media Management For Local Businesses Digital marketing skills that teens naturally develop can help solve real business problems. Many small business owners recognize the importance of social media, but they often lack the time or knowledge to manage it effectively. Service offerings: Content creation, post scheduling, basic graphic design, and community engagement. Focus on platforms where you already have experience, such as Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook. Getting started: Approach local businesses with a concrete proposal: "I'll create and schedule 12 posts for your social media accounts this month for $300." Include before/after examples from practice accounts or volunteer work. Start with one client to perfect your approach and track measurable results. Take screenshots of engagement increases and follower growth numbers. These concrete examples help you land additional clients. Revenue expectations: Managing 3-4 accounts effectively can generate $900-1,200 monthly. 3. Print-On-Demand Product Creation Artistic teens can earn money without having to purchase inventory upfront. Sites like Redbubble, Teespring, and Printful print your designs on products only after customers place an order. You upload artwork, set prices, and earn a percentage of the sale price when items sell. This works well for teens who draw, take photos, or create digital art. Your designs can appear on t-shirts, phone cases, notebooks, and a wide range of other products. Most platforms pay creators 10-20% of each sale. Getting started: Pick one category and stick with it initially. Animal lovers might design cat-themed products. Fitness enthusiasts could create motivational workout quotes. Regular uploads matter more than perfect designs when you're just starting out. Marketing approach: Post your design process on Instagram or TikTok. Join Facebook groups related to your niche. Message micro-influencers about potential collaborations. Building an audience takes months, not weeks, so patience pays off. Revenue expectations: Success varies widely, but consistent creators often earn $200-500 monthly after six months of regular uploads. Popular designs can generate passive income for years. 4. Event Support Services Parties and celebrations always need extra hands. Parents hosting birthday parties, families planning graduations, and organizations running fundraisers often hire teens to help with tasks they can't handle alone. Scaling strategy: Begin with one client to develop systems and prove results. Document engagement improvements and follower growth to attract additional clients. Once you manage 3-4 accounts efficiently, your monthly revenue can reach $900-$ 1,200. 4. Event Support Services Parties and celebrations always need extra hands. Parents hosting birthday parties, families planning graduations, and organizations running fundraisers often hire teens to help with tasks they can't handle alone. Service categories: Pre-event preparation, day-of coordination, entertainment assistance, and post-event cleanup. You can focus on specific areas like party decorating or crowd management for children's events. Client acquisition: Network through family connections, community centers, and local event venues. Create a simple portfolio showing before/after photos of events you've helped organize, even informal family gatherings. Revenue model: Charge $15-25 per hour depending on responsibilities and event complexity. Weekend events often command premium rates. Build relationships with event planners and venues for consistent referral opportunities. 5. Technology Support Services The digital divide presents opportunities for tech-savvy teens to assist seniors and small business owners in navigating modern technology. Services include smartphone setup, social media training, basic computer troubleshooting, and software installation. This business model works particularly well because it builds on skills teens already possess while serving a genuine market need. Many seniors want to stay connected digitally but feel overwhelmed by rapidly changing technology. Service offerings: Device setup, app installation, social media training, video calling instruction, and basic cybersecurity education. Focus on practical skills that improve daily life for your clients. Trust building: Start with family, friends, and neighbors to establish credibility. Request testimonials and referrals from satisfied clients. This business relies heavily on trust and word-of-mouth marketing. Pricing structure: Charge $20-$ 40 per session, depending on complexity and duration. Ongoing support contracts provide steady income—some teens offer monthly check-ins to maintain client relationships. How A Teen Entrepreneur Can Leverage Business Experience For College Running a business gives you stories that make admissions officers stop reading and pay attention. They see thousands of applications from students who played soccer or volunteered at hospitals. Far fewer describe how they built something from scratch. Colleges want students who take initiative and solve problems. Your tutoring business shows you identified a need in your community and figured out how to meet it. Your social media management service proves you can learn new skills and deliver results for clients. When you write about your business experience, skip the revenue numbers. Instead, tell the story of your biggest failure and what you learned from it. Describe the moment you realized your first approach wasn't working and how you pivoted. Explain how you convinced your first customer to trust a teenager with their business. As A Teen Entrepreneur Start Small The most crucial step is beginning. Choose one business model that matches your existing skills and interests. Start small, focus on delivering excellent service to initial clients, and reinvest profits to grow systematically. Your age can be an advantage rather than a limitation. Many customers appreciate working with young entrepreneurs who bring fresh energy and digital fluency to traditional service needs. The key is demonstrating professionalism and reliability regardless of your age. The entrepreneurial skills you develop today—customer service, financial management, marketing, and problem-solving—will serve you throughout your career, whether you continue building businesses or apply these capabilities in other fields.
Zawya
02-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
How Absa is driving an entrepreneurial mindset revolution for South Africa?
Youth entrepreneurship must be treated as a national imperative requiring coordinated action from the business sector, government, and educational institutions if South Africa is to effectively address its unemployment crisis, an expert panel told audiences at the Trialogue Business in Society Conference 2025 hosted at The Galleria in Sandton, Johannesburg, on 13 and 14 May. The panel at the Trialogue Business in Society Conference discuss entrepreneurship The panel discussion, presented in partnership with Absa, brought together corporate social investment (CSI), education and academic voices to explore entrepreneurship development and examine how South Africa might better translate policy into practical impact for young entrepreneurs. 'No longer is business in society about maximising shareholder value and returns. Today's business must create shared value by empowering communities,' Absa Managing Executive: Corporate Citizenship, Dr Steven Zwane, told delegates in his introductory presentation on day 1 of the conference. He said that business needed to take a more proactive approach to changing society and that entrepreneurship is a vehicle to drive this change. 'If we can convince young people to become entrepreneurs they won't only be employable, but will be job creators, and we'll address the scourge of youth unemployment.' Why entrepreneurship is so important to Africa Small business and entrepreneurship play an essential but overlooked role in South Africa's economy. Speaking on behalf of the Department of Basic Education's E3 initiative, Dr Taddy Blecher pointed out that 70% of all formal sector jobs in South Africa are generated by small businesses. 'If you add the informal sector, over 90% of South Africans are feeding their families through small business.' Entrepreneurship has long been recognised as a critical driver of economic development across the African continent, where small and medium enterprises form the backbone of most economies. Unlike developed economies where large corporations may dominate employment, African economies rely heavily on entrepreneurial activity to create jobs, drive innovation, and build resilient communities that can adapt to changing economic conditions. Despite the data showing that Africans are natural entrepreneurs, Blecher said that South Africans did not demonstrate the same entrepreneurial mindset as say their Nigerian and Kenyan counterparts. He attributed this to inadequate exposure to positive entrepreneurial exposure in the home and the lack of inclusion of entrepreneurial thinking in our formal education system. SA demonstrates low rates of entrepreneurial action Professor Anastacia Mamabolo, who specialises in entrepreneurship research and is the Absa Chair in Entrepreneurship at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, noted that inadequate historical data on youth entrepreneurship in South Africa had complicated efforts to address the issue. However, emerging data showed that very few young people were participating in entrepreneurial activities compared to older individuals and that the progress of entrepreneurial enterprises from intention to action, and then to becoming established businesses, was extremely low. As little as 11% of the 28% of young people consider entrepreneurship as a future path take any steps to do it. Even fewer succeed. The statistics are even worse in rural communities where youth entrepreneurship carries a greater imperative for job creation, social development and community stability. Lack of exposure to self-starter thinking combined with evidential witnessing of the high rate of entrepreneurial failure in South Africa are likely to blame for the low rate of entrepreneurial activation. 'We need to change the narrative around entrepreneurship,' Zwane asserted. 'We haven't embraced that entrepreneurship comes with failure. Young people see the failure and avoid it. We need to create stories and models for young people to believe the future belongs to them.' Accelerating youth entrepreneurship through education The panel agreed that the inclusion of entrepreneurial thinking into South Africa's formal education system is an essential start to generating the entrepreneurial practice that is going to support our economy. This is the task that the E3 initiative has set out to achieve. 'Our goal is that by 2030, every child in every school in every province will have entrepreneurial experiences,' said Blecher. 'You cannot teach entrepreneurship from a textbook. You do it through repeated experience of problem solving.' The discussion also drew attention to the need for this education to be more than just business management skills, but to include practical, personal approaches rather than theory-based teaching. It also addressed the myth that successful entrepreneurs typically drop out of school and lack formal education. 'Research found that the vast majority of successful entrepreneurs in the country have been to university. People think education is opposite to entrepreneurship, but it's not true. The more educated you are, the more successful you're likely to be as an entrepreneur,' Blecher commented. Since most successful entrepreneurs emerge between the ages of 28 and 40, evidence suggests that employment, work experience, building capital, growing networks and developing the expertise around which to build a competitive business are important contributors to entrepreneurial success. While inculcating entrepreneurial thinking into education is an essential part of the process, Mamabolo urged audiences not to overlook what she called 'the Missing Middle'. She noted that interventions are sorely lacking for individuals who have not been exposed to the option of entrepreneurship at school or university on account of incomplete secondary school education. 'Currently there are no interventions for them. But they have the potential to shape the entrepreneurial landscape,' she said. Creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurial success Encouraging entrepreneurial thinking, intention and action is not enough to realise the potential that small business holds for South Africa's economy. What is needed is to create a broader enabling environment for young people to succeed. It is here that CSI can play an important part in the process, one that Absa has adopted as its primary CSI drive. Absa has invested R319 million in programmes focused on entrepreneurship development. 'Absa is committed to creating an ecosystem where young people move from an entrepreneurial mindset towards taking decisive, action-oriented steps towards building a sustainable future,' said Zwane. Young entrepreneur Mulweli Sigabe, who is supported by Absa, added his input to the needs of young entrepreneurs like himself. Sigabe, who is the founder of Beyond Smile and the developer of innovative hygiene products including self-cleaning adult diapers and sanitary towels designed for ease of use and privacy, told audiences that securing funding to develop and patent his product, creating manufacturing equipment and finding partners to scale his business presented the biggest challenges. He emphasised that what young entrepreneurs need most is support and patience. Since delivering an idea takes time to build and establish, as well as skills the entrepreneur may not have, what is needed is guidance from those with experience to help them succeed, building pivots and failure into the learning process. The panel identified several key enablers for a thriving entrepreneurship ecosystem, including; - Better understanding of the barriers to youth employment - Access to targeted education and training - Long-term impact catalysation rather than short-term interventions - Customised financial solutions specifically designed for young entrepreneurs The panel called for greater support for young entrepreneurs in South Africa to transform policy into practice that might contribute to enriching the economy and addressing youth unemployment. As Zwane concluded, 'Through cross-sector collaboration, targeted capacity building, and strategic allocation of financial resources, we can create a future where youth entrepreneurship is not just encouraged but is an engine of national growth.' About Trialogue Trialogue is a niche corporate responsibility consultancy with almost three decades of industry research and experience. The company provides consulting and thought leadership services to clients in sustainability and corporate social investment (CSI).
CBS News
25-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Youth with Austin Harvest help get healthy groceries to seniors on West Side with Beyond Hunger partnership
A partnership between a youth-led produce market on Chicago's West Side and Beyond Hunger is helping to get healthy groceries to seniors in the city's Austin neighborhood. Youth from Austin Harvest, a student-led fresh produce market at 423 N. Laramie Ave., have teamed up with Beyond Hunger — a hunger-relief nonprofit headquartered in Oak Park that has been helping feed people in need in Cook County and Chicago since 1978 — for the project. The partnership began about a year ago. Keith Tankson, 19, is the founder of Austin Harvest. "Austin Harvest is a fresh produce market, also a youth entrepreneurship, where we, you know, serve our community using fresh produce and flowers," Tankson said. CBS News Chicago visited as Tankson took care of the donated produce. He assembled boxes full of bananas, green onions, celery, Cuties Mandarin oranges, apples, ginger. "We're making sure everything is being used," Tankson said. Tankson noticed a need in the Austin neighborhood when he as just a freshman in high school. "We're a food desert here in Austin," he said. Tankson came up with an idea for a fresh produce market in his neighborhood. "These are things that's a necessity in our community that should've been here planted from the start," he said. Through the partnership, Beyond Hunger has purchased thousands of pounds of produce from Austin Harvest to use in its home delivery program. Austin Harvest has also been donating any unsold produce from its market. "When we do give away for donations, it still looks just as fresh as when we first got it," said Tanskson. Tamiko Saame of Beyond Hunger helps coordinate the free deliveries. "There are a lot of seniors. Some are disabled adults," said Saame. "So we bring the groceries to them." Partnering together, Austin Harvest and Beyond Hunger have rescued almost 17,000 pounds of food in the last year. "Everything is community-oriented," said Tankson. "Nothing's being lost, or being, you know, thrown away." Beyond Hunger said as a result of the partnership, they've seen marked increases in how many fruits and vegetables their meal delivery recipients are eating, more confidence from those recipients in managing their own diet, and an increase in reported overall health and wellbeing. "Without Austin Harvest, we probably couldn't continue the secondary produce delivery," said Saame.
Zawya
10-06-2025
- Business
- Zawya
South Africa: Mr Price Foundation launches $169mln fund for young entrepreneurs
Mr Price Foundation has launched the Bindzu Youth Fund, a national initiative offering youth-owned businesses the chance to access a share of R3m in grant funding, along with coaching and growth support. Applications for the programme are now open. The fund aims to help young entrepreneurs scale their businesses through a combination of financial support, capacity development, and mentorship. Targeted support and funding - Tailored business development support - Technical assistance - Online and in-person bootcamp training - Expert mentorship and coaching - Opportunity to pitch for additional seed capital - Access to post-investment support Businesses will go through a rigorous multiphase selection process. Finalists will receive grant funding and have the opportunity to pitch for additional seed capital and access post-investment support. Eligibility criteria To qualify, businesses must meet the following criteria: - At least 51% youth-owned (ages 18-34) - At least 51% Black-owned (as defined by the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act) - Operational for at least 12 months - Based anywhere in South Africa - Annual turnover of less than R5m - Demonstrated growth potential Focus on scaling and sustainability South Africa's micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) contribute roughly 40% of GDP and employ more than 60% of the workforce. The Bindzu Youth Fund is intended to support these businesses as catalysts for economic growth. The Foundation says the fund is designed to strengthen business models, improve leadership, and enable sustainable scaling.
