Learner secures top 5 position in entrepreneurial competition
"Entrepreneurship has always been something that I have been interested in and the fact that I get to apply it to a cause that is so close to my heart...really means a lot.”
CONGRATULATIONS are in order for New Forest High School’s (NFHS) aspiring entrepreneur, Luyanda Shezi who secured a position in the top five in the Allan Gray Entrepreneurship Challenge.
The challenge is a gamified learning platform that is open to all high school learners in South Africa. It takes the form of an annual five week competition in which learners undergo transformation and entrepreneurial development through their exposure to byte-sized chunks of enriched, digitised skills-based learning content in the domain of entrepreneurship.
NFHS participates in the programme every year and upon hearing about it, Luyanda went straight to the website to sign up for the programme. One of the challenges required the participants to create and upload a video of themselves on YouTube, pitching a business idea. Inspired by her passion to uplift girls, Luyanda’s pitch was all about giving girls back their power especially in emergency situations, through the ‘emergency girl kit’.
“It’s basically a toiletry sized bag that can be customised according to personal preference, stocked with female essentials such as sanitary pads, extra underwear, toiletries and a charger cable. It would be able to easily fit in your everyday handbag and come in handy if you’re ever in an unexpected situation. I envision that it would start out as a product that would be available for online purchase. You could order and customise your kit online and have it delivered to you. I felt like it was something that was needed and isn’t really available on the market,” said the Grade 9 learner who looks forward to pitching her business idea at the awards ceremony in Gauteng in front of ministers and other prestigious guests.
“Being a part of the top five in the country is surreal. I still can’t believe it, I’m so excited. Entrepreneurship has always been something that I have been interested in, the fact that I get to apply it to a cause that is so close to my heart being women empowerment and feminism really means a lot.”
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