The student Entrepreneurship Week aimed at raising entrepreneurship awareness among students as a career and a means to participate in the economy, was launched at the Tshwane University of Technology’s main campus in Pretoria on Thursday.

Speaking at the launch, the Chief Executive Officer of Universities South Africa, Professor Ahmed Bawa, said as the national unemployment rate now officially  stands at almost 28%, young people cannot look solely to government for solutions.

“Even though government played a big role in shaping the national macro-economic policy, students must actively drive the change that the country needs to improve its economic performance. If we want to see a dent in our unemployment statistics, we need to find a way to build a broad-based entrepreneurial culture. Universities are the best place to achieve that, not by themselves but in partnership with the industry and other partners,” Bawa said.

Bawa further appealed to academics to develop graduates who would uphold high ethical values in the way they conduct business in future.

“We cannot tolerate the level of swindling of money that we see rising in our society. We fought apartheid, now it is your turn to emancipate this country from poverty, inequality and the scourge of unemployment,” Bawa said.