With South Africa’s unemployment rate currently at 30,1%, the North-West University (NWU) is dedicated to ensuring that its students are a step ahead.

From 12 to 16 October 2020 the NWU will host a virtual Student Entrepreneurship Week (SEW).

This event aims to equip students with essential entrepreneurial skills they can use after graduation, should they not secure formal employment.Each day two sessions will be hosted via Zoom:

• Monday, 12 October to Thursday, 15 October -   10:30 to 12:30
• Friday, 16 October - 11:30 to 13:30

According to Annelie Steenkamp from the bhive Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), the centre has been hosting SEW on the Vanderbijlpark Campus since 2017.

“From this year and in future we will be hosting the event for students on all three campuses,” says Annelie.

She says students can look forward to entrepreneurial and business skills development and receiving insights from fellow student entrepreneurs and industry experts.

Students will also learn how to identify business opportunities, how to start an online business, and how to build a social media presence.

Entrepreneurship competition for students

The NWU is further encouraging students to take up entrepreneurship by hosting an ideation challenge. Through this challenge, students are encouraged to share their clever solutions for real problems.

The student with the best idea will walk away with a cash prize of R1 000 to start up their own business. To enter the challenge students must send their two-minute elevator pitch videos to https://nwu.padlet.org/anneliesteenkamp/w7gjx1oz9jyp4jjb before Wednesday, 14 October.

The winner will be announced during the industry panel discussion on Friday 16 October.

For more information contact Annelie at Annelie.Steenkamp@nwu.ac.za.