Alex youth pass up opportunity
ALEXANDRA - Apathy is seen as the only reason why youth from Alexandra do not embrace the South African Breweries’ (SAB) KickStart youth entrepreneurship programme.
Apathy is thought to be the only reason why youth from Alexandra did not embrace the South African Breweries’ (SAB) KickStart youth entrepreneurship programme.
SAB announced the competition’s top 18 national finalists for 2015 during a grant allocation ceremony at SAB’s World of Beer in Newtown, but sadly there were no entries from budding entrepreneurs in Alexandra. As a result, Alex youth lost out in more than R100 000 grant funding to kickstart their townships businesses.
Each of the finalists announced have begun an intensive business development support programme, which will culminate in an award ceremony to celebrate the top five entrepreneurs at the end of this year during Global Entrepreneurship Week 2015, where they stand to win additional grant funding of between R100 000 and R500 000.
A business development strategy has been crafted for each of the finalist businesses according to a needs analysis undertaken at the beginning of the year. This determines the grant received by each, and the necessary business development support, including individual mentoring over the coming months.
Mpho Sadiki, SAB head of sustainability and transformation, said 2015 was a significant year for the company and KickStart. The brewery celebrates 120 years of making some of the country’s best-loved beers, as well as 20 years of KickStart, which has proven to be a respected youth entrepreneurship development programme in South Africa since its sinception in May 1995.
“SAB KickStart is indicative of SAB’s commitment to developing and supporting high-impact youth entrepreneurs whose businesses become sustainable and make a meaningful contribution to society and the economy through the creation of many jobs,” Sadiki said.
The SAB KickStart finalists for 2013 created a total of 98 part- and full-time employment, and the current class of 2014’s top 18 finalists will need all the support they can get with the majority of them in the early stages of a start-up and operating without core systems and process, she said.
Details: Azure Janneker, 011 881 8562 or Azure.Janneker@za.sabmiller.com
