Young entrepreneur flourishes after being part of Jasa project

Organisation empowers youth with business skill sets

Ntwanano Rikhotso (22) of Soweto
Ntwanano Rikhotso (22) of Soweto
Image: SUPPLIED

Preparing young people for the work environment and equipping them with skill sets to run businesses while they are still in school is proving to be beneficial to them and their communities.

This is why more nonprofit organisations such as Junior Achievement SA (Jasa) are needed in the country to help fight against youth unemployment and poverty.

Jasa executive director Nelo Phindile Spies said the organisation was established in 1979 to empower SA youth with practical work readiness, financial literacy and entrepreneurship.

“Jasa provides South African youth with the skill set and mindset to build thriving communities. Our programmes are offered to primary and high school learners. We target beneficiaries between the ages of eight and 35 years,” Spies said.

She said more than 600,000 SA youth have benefited from Jasa programmes.

Ntwanano Rikhotso, 22, of Soweto is among those who benefited from the programme.

In 2016, the organisation offered the Junior Enterprise Programme to pupils at Lamula Jubilee Secondary School where Rikhotso was a grade 11 learner at the time. The programme ran for eight months. 

“The programme taught us about practical entrepreneurship skills. As part of the programme, we were required to form mini enterprises with a formal corporate set-up and structure including a general manager, financial manager, production manager, and so on. We identified products and services that we would sell or provide,” Rikhotso said. 

He said they had to conduct market research with the guidance of the programme facilitator, and thereafter, draft a business plan and present it to be successful. 

“Jasa provided us with funding to get our business idea off the ground. Our company was called Smart Corporate Leaders and we sold personalised bracelets and necklaces. The facilitator guided us throughout the process. We all played different roles in ensuring that the business was sustainable and functional,”
Ntwanano Rikhotso

“Jasa provided us with funding to get our business idea off the ground. Our company was called Smart Corporate Leaders and we sold personalised bracelets and necklaces. The facilitator guided us throughout the process. We all played different roles in ensuring that the business was sustainable and functional,” he said. 

Rikhotso said because a seed of entrepreneurship was planted in him at that tender age, he also started a business of selling internet services to his fellow schoolmates at the time by charging them R2 each to connect to his Wi-Fi router.

He said the company was also empowered with skills to attract investment into the business.

Among other things, he learnt practical entrepreneurial and leadership skills. 

Rikhotso has since led over a dozen youth organisations and clubs in his community, and sat in various youth organisation boards, including the Google Developers Student Club at Wits University where he obtained a bachelor of science in computer science in 2022. 

While studying towards a degree in computer science, Rikhotso founded a software development business which he later developed into a business development firm called SNR Solutions. 

“The company offers business technology solutions to small, medium and microenterprises and start-ups and we have so far created jobs for 10 young people,” he said. – This article was first published in Vuk’uzenzele


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