Learners from the Namaqualand-based Steinkopf High School impressed a panel of judges with an innovative business idea at a Techno-girl Entrepreneurship Workshop that was hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) at the Mittah Seperepere Convention Centre in Kimberley this weekend. Hundred learners from ten of the Northern Cape high schools were given an opportunity to develop and present commercially viable business plans based on a product that they had created and would sell in order to make a profit and grow their business.
The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Elizabeth Thabethe, said the Steinkopf learners appeared head and shoulders above the rest of their peers when it came to the credibility, feasibility, practicability, originality and sustainability entrepreneurial ideas.
“Even though there is no outright winner for today because all of your ideas were found to be lacking most of the elements we were looking for, particularly originality and uniqueness, the product, a liquid compost, and the business plan of the Steinkopf girls got the nod of the judges as the one that came closest to what we were looking for,” said Thabethe.
Thabethe then announced that the learners would be given a second chance at the competition when the techno-girl programme moves to the North West province later this year.
However, learners from the Kimberley-based Tetlanyo High School were the stars of the weekend after each one of them received a mobile phone handset from Cell C. They were rewarded for their effective time management, discipline, participativeness, assertiveness and confidence.
Thabethe announced that one of the Tetlanyo learners Boitumelo Oliphant will accompany her to the Global Women’s Summit in Malaysia in June.
The Techno-girl Entrepreneurship programme is aimed at removing the stereotypes and biases that often prevent girl learners from taking science based subjects at school and pursuing careers in science and technology with focus on entrepreneurship. According to Thabethe, the dti believes that entrepreneurship is the best and critical intervention needed to nurture and grow the talents of many girls in becoming the successful businesswomen of tomorrow.
Others schools that participated in the workshop are Bankhara Budolong, Pampierstad, Karrikama, Ratang Thuto, Carlton van Heerden, Kharkams, Steynville and KS Shuping high schools.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe-Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Follow us on Twitter: @the_dti
