Karoo kids picking up the skills to create their own jobs
MORE than 900 pupils in eight schools in the Karoo are being equipped to take control of their futures by creating their own jobs.
The Grade 10 and 11 pupils in Somerset East, Cookhouse, Adelaide and Bedford are setting up their own small businesses and learning financial literacy.
This is through the community outreach arm of Young Entrepreneurs, a national franchise which aims to help young South Africans avoid becoming part of the more than 26% working-age citizens who are unemployed. Young Entrepreneurs business owner Ansulene Prinsloo said the idea was to uplift the area and give children a better chance of success.
Prinsloo introduced the programme in Port Elizabeth last year, and has since taken it to the Karoo and other Eastern Cape towns.
At Port Elizabeth’s Charles Duna Lower Primary School, the programme has had such an impact that it has led to a school-based jewellery-making business – with 25 of the children gearing up to sell their products at Port Elizabeth’s “Locally Yours” handmade market later this month.
“We are teaching our pupils not to wait for employment but to create their own employment,” Charles Duna principal Nombulelo Sume said.
The year-long Karoo programme, which began in July last year and is being sponsored by Metropolitan through the MMI Foundation, encourages pupils to practise their ingenuity and creativity by making jewellery, picture frames, stationery holders and other products out of recycled material – and it is starting to make a difference in their lives.
Sinovuya Jaxa, from the Adelaide Gymnasium, said: “I have learnt that saving money and investing is vital to our modern-day society – and that entrepreneurship is a skill that few people have and use.
“In the future, I will be equipped in managing finances and make informed decisions.”
Siphosethu Tonga, a facilitator of the programme at Johnson Nqonqoza Senior Secondary School in Somerset East, said the programme was an eye-opener – not just for the pupils but also for her.
Metropolitan corporate social investment manager Elsie Govender said the programme was aimed at setting up South Africa’s next generation of adults for financial success.