Young people pitch their ideas to KNP
Kruger National Park (KNP) in conjunction with the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) recently held a youth empowering programme called Pitch and Perfect where young people between 21 and 34 years old were asked to present business ideas.
The competition, which was held under the theme “consolidate and safeguard our democratic gains”, formed part of the SANParks and KNP’s celebration of Freedom Day and targeted young people with small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs). Participants were each given five minutes to present their idea and were asked questions by the judges. Participants included the youth from the southern part of the KNP including Phalaborwa and Hoedspruit.
The 40 SMMEs that took part were from the KNP 2021 economic transformation roadshow and land claimants database. They were selected and trained through mentorships and coaching prior to the competition. The first winner in the competition, Busisiwe Ngomane, who owns a crop farming business called Gugu Mshika Enterprise, was awarded R50 000 from the Hollywood Foundation. “I’m speechless, I have no words to describe my appreciation to SANParks.
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You have no idea what this money will do for my business,” she said on the stage when receiving her award. In the second place, the prize of R30 000, went to Pumla Shavangu who owns a water purification and bottling business called Vitality Living. Third to fifth places were each awarded R20 000 as a direct investment towards equipment, stock, material, and working capital, depending on their immediate business needs.
According to SANParks, the idea is to develop and train young entrepreneurs from the selected area to become fully fledged business owners. The prize money is aimed to either boost the existing business or start up the new one. “Our focus as SANParks is on fostering and mainstreaming, integrated and resultoriented youth development through collaborations with key stakeholders to implement youth development programmes,” said the acting SANParks head of Socio-Economic Transformation, Elizabeth Mhlongo.
