ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPO TARGETS CHRISTIAN YOUTH
Anon-profit making foundation, Graced Foundation will host a two day entrepreneurship expo aimed at empowering and developing young entrepreneurs.
The event organiser, Ayanda Knoesen said she has observed that young entrepreneurs lack entrepreneurship skills and they go through a lot of errors that hinder their businesses to grow.
She said the objective of the event is to educate, network and market exposure for Christians in the business community. “The motivation for this event is that as Christians, we don’t have any platform that speaks to business development. Some individual Churches have held seminars on their own but there has never been a platform that is interdenominational that advances entrepreneurial development.”
She highlighted that business skills and financial literacy empowerment is critical to young people across all Christian denominations. “We desperately need that because youth need to be taught the Biblical principles of business as they will help combat corruption and other ill business ethics that are now at play.”
While the budget for this event is close to P150 000, Knoesen said they are still seeking funding partners and sponsors. This first of its kind event will be conducted in two days on November 10th and 11th. “Day 1 is a seminar; we’ve invited Christian business experts to speak. Day 2 is an exhibition during the day and a networking gala dinner in the evening.”
Knoesen highlighted that among the challenges faced by the youth entrepreneurs, limited access to funding is the major factor. “Even with government efforts to assist youth entrepreneurial development, there is still a serious shortage and we just wish other stake holders in the economy could step up to assist.”
The event is anticipated to be an annual event. “We will have periodic training sessions for young people to help develop entrepreneurship skills to build sustainable businesses. All training will be based on Biblical principles because we believe God’s wisdom carries sustainable solution.”