YOUTH ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
South African Graduate Institute (SAGI) is delighted to introduce the Youth Enterprise Development Program (YEDP). South Africa is faced with the challenge of limited and poor participation of young people in the economy. A salient feature of this poor economic participation is high persistent youth unemployment, which means that young people are not acquiring the skills and work experience they need to assist in driving the economy forward. It is also difficult for young South Africans to secure business opportunities to establish and develop their own businesses.
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The overall unemployment rate in the country stands at 28% and rises to about 36% if discouraged workers are. Youth unemployment constitutes 63,4% of the total unemployment in the country. About 42% of young people under the age of 30 are unemployed, compared to less than 17% of adults over the age of 30.
Our Youth Enterprise Development Program is a richly layered simulated environment that takes passionate achievers from the ages of 18 to 35 and teaches them how to establish a sustainable businesses.
The program takes 3 to 4 months, its an incubator style program, participants start up and learn to run sustainable businesses, where they are guided to implement the theory as they learn through the provision of facilitation and support. The students are introduced to an array of entrepreneurial concepts that inspires them and builds their business confidence.
After the course work is complete, participants receive ongoing support and mentorship and they are also introduced to micro-finance institutions as options for funding their businesses going forward, also a company pack which includes (company registration, logo design, company profile, business cards, branding and business proposals).
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To qualify for the Youth Enterprise Development Program, students need to be:
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between the ages of 18 and 35;
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comfortable with speaking, writing and understanding English;
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free from employment commitments and not be a full time student;
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able to demonstrate a keen interest in starting a business as this will grant them preferred entry;
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self-starters who are motivated and enthusiastic and willing to contribute to the programme by investing their time and effort; and
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prepared to commit completely to the duration of the three to four month course.