By Adam Wakefield
The nine teams came from Kgatewpele Secondary School (Braamfischerville, Soweto); Vuyiswa Mtolo High School (KwaMashu, Durban); Ribane-Laka Secondary Schol (Mamelodi, Pretoria); Millennium Combined (Seshego, Polokwane); Liberty College (Bramley, Johannesburg); Sijabulile Secondary School (Katlehong, Ekurhuleni); Leap Science and Maths School (Ga-Rankuwa, Mabopane); and two teams from Masibambane Secondary School (Kraaifontein, Cape Town).
The theme for this year’s awards was ‘Design it, make it, sell it’, with entrants encouraged to identify a problem in their communities, and build a business around an idea that solves that problem.
The nine finalists did this, with their respective ideas being:
- An app called EduFun that helps users with creative writing, education, and word pronunciation due to the lack of accessible libraries in Braamfisherville;
- A business called Aluminium Windows and Doors, because the same things in KwaMashu are usually made of less resilient wood;
- Flash Tags, to help new school pupils fit in, feel more comfortable, and possibly in the future, a new type of name tag;
- MPQ, a water tank system that restricts users to 300 litres of water-use a day to stop water wastage;
- Creative Mind Makers, a business focused on producing fashion items and blankets out of recycled materials;
- The Sweat Cool Water Bottle, which cools water without the need of ice or electricity;
- The Witeraco app, that helps users understand the local public transport industry;
- Tutor 101, an educational app that fights against language barriers and having too many pupils in a class; and
- Ketcha Fire, an internal monitoring system for informal homes with a built-in temperature gauge which is connected to a sprinkler to prevent fires.
The nine teams were awarded prizes worth a total of R1.5-million in the form of bursaries, courses, study programmes, computer equipment and grants to continue their entrepreneurial education and enhance their job-creating potential.
Prize and event sponsors included the MTN Foundation, National Youth Development Agency,
ABSA, Sasol,
3M, Tsogo Sun, Kulula.com, Regenesys Business School, University of Stellenbosch Business School, City of Johannesburg, Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering at Wits University, Afrika Tikkun,
Newsclip,
Seed Academy, Ignitor, ORTJET, Blue Collar Foundation, Kano, and Incredible Connection.
Separate from the awards handed out to the nine teams, Gavin Watson, the CEO of the BOSASA Group of Companies, was named as the winner of the Trail Blazer of the Year Award for his commitment to transformation and economic empowerment.
Martin Sweet, the managing director of Primestars Marketing, the company behind the awards, congratulated the nine teams that made it, and Watson on his his win. He also heaped praise on sponsors and government for getting behind the awards.
“I don’t think there has been another event this year with so many sponsors,” he told the audience. “Today I take my hat off to the Step Up 2 A Start Up finalists who are here with their educators from the far reaches of the country.”
Sweet hoped the competition would “ignite learners’ potential as future entrepreneurs”, and with that to continue next year under the social and environmental theme of “My planet, my people, my purpose, making it my business”.
Both Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Buthi Manamela, and Small Business Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, delivered speeches, emphasising the importance of young entrepreneurs in a society which needs more job creators, instead of job seekers.
Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi, and Deputy Social Development Minister, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, were also present, while the awards were graced by the musical talents of Khanyo, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, Diversity, and The Gudfellas.
If the private sector and government can continue to support initiatives aimed at bolstering the potential of South Africa’s youth, as they have done with the Step Up 2 A Start Up programme, the future of the republic will be much better for it.