Africa’s child superhero to release a business book for kids

Africa’s first black child superhero, Prince “SuperMash” Mashawana, will soon release his much-awaited book.

Diary of a Superhero: Kid CEO Programme is the first in a series of books to be released over the next few years.

Kid CEOs are super children who believe in their ideas and follow their dreams – starting a business to make a positive difference in the world.

According to SuperMash, the purpose of the book is to encourage kids and teenagers to start their first businesses, while still at school.

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“Entrepreneurship can change the world. I started my first business a while back and the lessons, I learnt have helped me become so much better,” he said.

The book outlines some fundamental tools and strategies children can use to gain some valuable experience in starting, managing and growing successful business ventures.

The programme teaches kids on how to brainstorm brilliant business ideas – designing a logo, registering a company, learning how to budget and how to make a sale.

“One of my favorite chapters in the book has to be the tips on how to keep customers happy – getting that first sale will feel great, but remember you want your customers to keep on coming back,” said SuperMash.

Against a background of high levels of youth unemployment in the country, the book comes at a time when South Africa is in need of more small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs).

South Africa’s unemployment rate has hit a record high of 34.4% or 7.8 million jobless people, according to Stats SA’s released Quarterly Labour Force Survey – the highest unemployment rate recorded since the survey started in 2008.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa has placed inclusive growth, transformation and job creation at the centre of the government’s agenda, with one of the key enablers being a capable state, envisaged in the National Development Plan (NDP).

The NDP expresses an important aspiration: by 2030, 90% of all jobs should be created by SMMEs.

The CEO Initiative’s SMME Fund has calculated that – to achieve the NDP target of 6% unemployment and 11 million jobs by 2030, South Africa needs 49 000 SMMEs growing at a rate of 20% a year.

The Diary of a Superhero: Kid CEO Programme, is expected to make a significant impact on the creation of new businesses and SMME’s.

The book will launch in the first week of November in leading bookstores nationwide and globally.

brians@citizen.co.za