Winning school-going entrepreneurs cash in

12 SEPTEMBER 2007

Twenty-four businesswise KZN learners will receive cash prizes totalling R18 000 at the prize-giving ceremony of the SAPREF Mercury School Entrepreneurs Competition in Durban on September 18.

All are running profitable businesses or have come up with a carefully researched and creative business idea.

The winners were selected from more than 100 entrants from rural and urban schools across the province. Winning products and services ranged from doggie couture and glamorous bags made from magazine advertisements to bamboo chimes and table mats made from woven newspapers.

Cash prizes of up to R2000 each will be awarded in two categories - best operating business and best business idea – for primary and high school learners. In the best operating business category, learners had to submit a business plan and show that their venture was making a profit. Those submitting a business idea gave a detailed description of their proposed enterprise and had to show that it had been carefully researched.

The judges looked for innovation, viability and sustainability, taking into account a lack of resources at disadvantaged schools. They were Rem Biyela, SMME manager of the Durban Chamber of Business, Darren Naidoo, planning, cost and strategy lead of sponsor SAPREF, Colleen Dardagan of The Mercury Network and competition convener, Felicity Howden.

All the winners will exhibit and sell their products at the prize-giving ceremony, creating a vibrant and colourful market atmosphere.

Five school groups are being paid to cater at the ceremony. They are Nansindlela Secondary in Ingwavuma, The Grange Primary from Pietermaritzburg, Rustic Manor Primary in Phoenix, Sokhulu Primary near Richards Bay and Strelitzia Secondary in Isipingo. They will also compete for a cash prize of R1000 for the best catering group on the day.

Three teachers who have shown outstanding commitment to developing entrepreneurship at their schools will be award prizes valued at R1000 each donated by Earn ‘n Learn. These are hampers filled with innovative tools and materials that will help them with their work in the classroom.

‘The prize-giving ceremony is the highlight of the competition where the successful students are given the chance to compare their products and services with their peers and to show off to invited guests and the media,’ Howden said.

The competition has been run for the past 11 years to give KwaZulu-Natal learners an incentive to start their own businesses and encourage educators to start entrepreneurship programmes at their schools.

‘Many school leavers will be unable to find jobs in the formal sector,’ said Lora Rossler, sustainable development manager of sponsor SAPREF. ‘By starting a business when they are still at school, they are equipping themselves with skills that will enable them to choose self-employment as a career option, becoming job creators and not job takers.’

The competition has helped hundreds of creative learners in the province establish successful businesses. It has also trained educators from more than 450 rural and urban schools how to integrate practical entrepreneurship classes into the Department of Education’s EMS (economics and management sciences) syllabus.

For more information contact Felicity Howden on (031) 561-7252.