‘Be job creators not seekers’
ALEX - Learners from Alex High School hone their entrepreneurship skills.
Learners from Alex High School joined their counterparts from around Johannesburg who were bused to the Ster Kinekor cinema at the Sandton City Mall to hone their business skills in an entrepreneurial cinematic workshop for start-ups.
Known as the Step Up 2 A Start-Up competition which is run by Primestars in association with various sponsors and partners, the cinematic workshop is aimed at encouraging children from previously disadvantaged schools to embrace an entrepreneurial culture as part of their education.
READ: Creating jobs as an entrepreneur
Speaking at the fifth instalment of the annual start-up competition, Primestars managing director Martin Sweet said the aim of the workshop and competition was to inculcate the culture of entrepreneurship in the minds of schoolchildren at an early age.
“We want you to say when you’re asked where you work, that you don’t work but you have people working for you or that when you’re asked how much you earn you should be able to confidently say that you don’t earn anything but you pay salaries,” said Sweet in his welcome address and motivation to the pupils.
Participants of the cinematic workshop are all given an entrepreneur’s toolkit to help them in mapping the road for their chosen business model and also get to be entered into a national competition, boot camp and an awards dinner at the end of the year.
Sweat encouraged the learners to enter the young entrepreneurs’ competition by submitting their business models for assessment and adjudication, where the top nine business models will be identified and invited to the boot camp in Gauteng.
He said the boot camp will further boost participants with the necessary skills to develop and start their businesses based on the models they submitted. At the ending of the boot camp, an awards gala dinner will be held where the top three business ideas will be recognised and awarded prizes that will enable the teams to further their education and the development of their respective businesses.
READ: Youth urged to seek education before jobs
Scio-Bono Discovery Centre’s CEO, Dr More Chakane, called on the participants to make use of his centre to further develop their business models to ensure they don’t die as start-ups but get to be developed to become successful business operations of note.
A Step Up 2 A Start-Up beneficiary of yesteryears, Nicholas Hlongwane, was invited to the stage to share his entrepreneurial rise and the road he has travelled as part of the motivation for the aspiring entrepreneurs.
The programme is an annual national event in which 16 Ster Kinekor cinemas across the country simultaneously screen the workshop-type movie which encompasses education and entertainment in its efforts to inculcate the culture job creators as opposed to job seekers.
