Learners encouraged to use technology to start businesses

Primestars Step Up 2 A Start-Up programme for this year was launched on 27 July at 54 on Bath with its sponsors such as Standard Bank and MTN attending.

The project was initiated five years ago and is aimed at empowering schoolchildren on how to use technology to become entrepreneurs. It has so far reached almost 65 000 learners across the country. This year’s theme is ‘Think Tech. Do Business’.

Minister of Small Businesses Development Lindiwe Zulu and prominent author Robert Kiyosaki were the event’s guest speakers and the two gave insight on how important it is to start your own business, especially from an early age.

Kiyosaki talked about how his number one bestseller Rich Dad Poor Dad provided financial literacy. “This book is all about accounting, bank statements and balance sheets,” he said.

“The average person leaves school without knowing what a financial statement is. And also, I think children need to understand that a phone has got so much power. A child cannot tell me that they cannot do anything with their phones because it is inside their hand. They just don’t have business sense, they use it for Twitter.”

Each year the programme builds on global trends in entrepreneurship and seeks to inspire participants to explore these trends in the context of their surroundings, looking for business solutions to real problems in their communities.

Fisokuhle Lushaba, a schoolgirl from Soweto, said she was happy when she was picked as one of the finalists for the programmes’ boot camp last year. “I was thinking to myself that there are issues that are faced by learners because they are looking for ways to find out about more about educational opportunities. Entering the programme and researching as much as I could, I fell in love with it. When I went there, I saw the magnificent work that was put in for us by industry leaders and marketers.”

Zulu also said that parents should not be afraid to discuss money with their children because it helps them in knowing how far they can go on asking for anything. Award-winning singer Vusi Nova kept the crowd entertained with his popular songs.

Do you have ambitions of starting a business? Tell us more on koketsor@caxton.co.za

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