- The Eskom Simama Ranta Entrepreneurship Education competition is held annually in collaboration with the Enterprise With Education Trust (EWET)
- The competition is aimed at identifying, celebrating and rewarding schools that are successfully implementing entrepreneurship education for their learners.
- This year’s overall winner is Usasazo High School from Khayelitsha, Western Cape.
Eskom has paid homage to South African high schools that are leading the way in educating their learners about entrepreneurship at the 2018 Eskom Simama Ranta Awards, held at the Indaba Hotel, Johannesburg on Wednesday, 5 September 2018.
The Eskom Simama Ranta Entrepreneurship Education competition, which is held annually, is done in collaboration with the Enterprise With Education Trust (EWET). The competition is aimed at identifying, celebrating and rewarding schools that are successfully implementing entrepreneurship education for their learners.
Through this initiative, the Eskom Development Foundation and EWET want to contribute towards eradicating poverty and unemployment, especially amongst the youth. All South African intermediate and secondary schools can enter the competition. To qualify, schools must run enterprise clubs that teach their learners the basics of starting and running a business through practical application while also responding to their communities’ socio-economic needs.
This year’s overall winner is Usasazo High School from Khayelitsha, Western Cape, whose enterprise club was established in 2016 and has 46 members. A reflection of its members’ diverse interests, skills and talents, the club has a wide variety of business interests. They run a tuck shop, create and sell drawings and paintings, lease out gowns, manufacture and sell dustbins, organise talent shows, do modelling and screen movies at their school. Over and above these, they also run outreach programmes including a water saving campaign, where they educate their community and other schools about the importance of saving water.
The school’s club won a cash prize of R100 000, which they are going to use to grow their operations. They plan to buy sewing machines and get training for some of their members so they can make their own gowns. The school beat 27 other finalists from across South Africa to claim the top spot. A winning school was also named for each province and they each received a prize of R50 000 for their clubs.
Usasazo club’s public relations officer, Nasiphi Bitshana, said they were shocked to be named the overall winner of the competition. “We knew we had a chance but never expected to actually win. This makes us so proud and shows us that we are on the right track. We will definitely do more to grow and enhance our skills as we build towards our future as entrepreneurs,” said Bitshana.
The Chairman of the Eskom Development Foundation, Chose Choeu, said through this competition, Eskom seeks to empower young people and give them the skills to be able to create a better future for themselves. “We need more job creators than job seekers. Simama Ranta seeks to unearth future entrepreneurs and help them gain the skills needed to make it in the world of business and this is one of the best catalysts for improving our economy,” said Choeu.
The provincial winners are as follows:
- Eastern Cape – Mpambani Mzimba High School (Fort Beaufort District, Alice)
- Free State – Selelekela High School (Thabo Mofutsanyane District, Phuthaditjhaba)
- Gauteng – Rondebult Secondary School (Ekurhuleni District, Germiston)
- KwaZulu-Natal – Birdswood Secondary School (King Cetshwayo District, Richards Bay)
- Limpopo – Mudimeli High School (Vhembe District, Mudimeli Village)
- Mpumalanga – Bakutswe Secondary School (Bohlabela District, Hazyview)
- Northern Cape – Bankhara-Bodulong High School (John Taolo Gaetsewe District, Bankhara-Bodulong)
- North West – Tong Comprehensive High School (Dr Ruth Mogomotsi Mompati District, Ganyesa)
- Western Cape – Windemere High School (Metro Central Education District, Maitland)
Source: Eskom Media Desk
