Alex school pupils have been told to use their entrepreneurship skills to lift themselves out of the rampant poverty in the township and better themselves and their community.
These were words of Small Businesses and Entrepreneurship Minister Lindiwe Zulu at the launch of the third edition of the entrepreneurship programme, Step Up 2 A Start Up at the Ster Kinekor cinema at Sandton City.
The programme is run by Primestars Marketing and its objective is to enrich senior pupils at high schools with entrepreneurship knowledge and tools to help them begin to shape ideas of businesses they can run after leaving school.
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In the edutainment movie, the pupils are encouraged to also look at social issues that are an irritant within their communities, such as waste and the abundant rodent problem, and turn them into thriving social businesses that not only reap rewards in the form of profits but also improve the social life in the community while at the same time saving the planet.
The movie, entitled Vukuzenzele (Wake up and do it for yourself) features well-known actors such as Maps Maponyane, Chante Jantjies and Fikile Mthwalo-Kani, who portray members of a social entrepreneurship scheme which grows oyster mushrooms to clean the water from the polluted river while at the same time providing a healthy food source for the community.
Pupils of Alexandra’s KwaBhekilanga High School and those from the Liberty Community College in Bramley were invited to the cinema to watch the motivational edutainment movie.
Speaking at the launch, Zulu said her generation’s task was to liberate South Africa from the shackles of apartheid, which was achieved; and the task of the post-democracy generation is to liberate the country and themselves from the shackles of economic monopoly.
“You can do this by thinking innovatively of ways to solve some of the irritating issues within your communities, be it rodents, river and water pollution, or simply devising apps to help track the times and routes of buses or taxis for the people, including turning waste into wealth. The world is your oyster – get up and do it,” Zulu said.
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