Using education to create entrepreneurs

Puleng Maphisa

The generation of today has been encouraged not just to study and rely on their education, but also to use their education to create jobs.

South Africa has a high percentage of unemployed graduates, so the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) held a Student Entrepreneurship Week where they encouraged students to develop their own businesses.

The purpose of the week, under the theme: “Supporting Students to become Entrepreneurs”, was to take students through the steps of starting up a business, maintaining it and how to become successful.

Among the speakers were students who have become entrepreneurs by opening a business called ‘CoffeaSidar’. CoffeaSidar was started by VUT students Lindowakhe Masango, Dunston Lekhuleni and Thierry Omari. They saw an opportunity in the student market and started selling iced coffee inside the VUT main campus cafeteria.

A young woman who is passionate about developing a waste management system, Ms Julia Makekita, also spoke to the audience. Ms Makekita won an award in the SWE2017 Capsimcore National Business Simulation Challenge at VUT.

Ms Makekita says: “The award was for entrepreneurial passion, dedication, sacrifice and an endless challenging mindset”.

She has been conducting industrial visits and receive training to gather information that she believes will help her to sustain her project for the next 12 months.

For more information on Coffeasidar, call: Thierry Omari on 079 968 1479 or email: coffeasidar@gmail.com