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Following the business breakfast in Vanderbiljpark, an alumni workshop on entrepreneurship was held on 13 March in Potchefstroom. At the workshop are from left GP van Rheede van Oudtshoorn, Suzanne Coetzer, Abigail Leshope and Nkateko Khoza.
Understanding the world of work
It is often with a combination of excitement and dread that senior students stand on the verge of starting their careers.
Reassuring and empowering them was the goal of a workshop on entrepreneurship held on 13 March 2019 in Potchefstroom.
During this event alumni GP van Rheede van Oudshoorn and Nkateko Khoza addressed about 70 honours and master’s students, sharing their experience of the world of work with them.
GP, a senior marketer at the NWU’s Marketing and Student Recruitment unit, is a successful entrepreneur, running his own business as a motivational speaker and entertainer.
Nkateko serves as the CEO of Leza Private Equity, an investment company based in Sandton, Johannesburg. He is also the co-managing director of Nessa Engineering in Vanderbijlpark.
A better future features on business breakfast menu
About 52% of young people in South Africa are unemployed.
This is according to Statistics South Africa’s report for 2018 and the Spectator Index that ranked South Africa's youth unemployment rate as the highest in the world in 2018*.
No wonder youth unemployment was high on the agenda at the business breakfast held for NWU alumni and friends on 8 March 2019 on the campus in Vanderbijlpark.
Attending the business breakfast on the campus in Vanderbijlpark are from left Nkateko Khoza, Zanele Ngobese, Michelle Groenewald, Clement Manoko, Sysman Motloung, Olivia Vaughn, Lesego More and Warren Makgowe.
With the theme “Building a future that works for us”, various speakers discussed the Budget Speech and President’s Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address. A topic that was raised frequently was that young people should be empowered to look after themselves and be fully prepared for the job market.
Alumnus Nkateko Khoza, the CEO of Leza Private Equity, said the high failure rate among youth-owned businesses should be addressed urgently.
Another speaker, Michelle Groenewald, believes that there should be a national conversation about unemployment and that all South Africans should weigh in on discussions, critique, policy proposals and solutions.
Michelle, who is lecturer in economics at the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences in Vanderbijlpark, agrees that entrepreneurship offers a viable solution to unemployment but cautions that it should not be viewed as the only solution.
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The Spectator Index is published by the UK’s Spectator magazine, which monitors the state of global politics, economics, sport, science and technology, among others.
Of the countries it ranked in 2018‚ the Spectator Index positioned the five countries with the highest youth unemployment as South Africa with 52,8%, followed by Greece (36,8%)‚ Spain (34,9%)‚ Nigeria (33,1%) and Italy (32,5%).
* Keep in mind that not all countries calculate youth unemployment in the same manner and therefore it is not always exactly comparable.