Eskom honoured high schools leading the way in entrepreneurial action, to improve the lives of their communities at the Eskom Simama Ranta Awards on 29 August at the Indaba Hotel.
The annual education competition is aimed at identifying and celebrating secondary schools successfully implementing entrepreneurship education. All South African intermediate and secondary schools are eligible to enter the competition.
To qualify, these schools must have enterprise clubs that teach children the basics of running a business through practical application, while responding to their respective communities’ socio-economic needs.
This year’s overall winner was Harrismith Senior Secondary from the Free State. The school’s plastic recycling initiative, where they transform plastic waste into usable items, is making strides in Harrismith.
“Creating a variety of goods from used plastic bottles that are readily available at dumping sites near the school has been our greatest success to date,” said Youth Enterprise Society club member, Sinethemba Hlatshwayo.
“We chose to make the products we make because an opportunity presented itself whereby some of the learners who joined the club live near dumping sites, so we had the advantage of easily collecting the plastic bottles and transforming them into usable items – while decreasing pollution.”
The Eskom Development Foundation’s acting chief executive officer, Cecil Ramonotsi, said supporting programmes that drive entrepreneurship in the youth is vital.
Parents need to teach their children to manage their own money
“Entrepreneurship is the best catalyst for improving our economy, and instilling key principles in school learners will ensure the country meets future growth targets and creates an inclusive future for our youth. The competition is one of the ways in which we are contributing to that future. The competition is one of our programmes geared at investing in young people, who are the leaders of tomorrow.”
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