New Look Foundation partnership to benefit SA youth

New Look's curriculum was developed in partnership with Emory University's Goizueta Business School and is based on current leadership and youth engagement research models. The programme is designed to help young people gain a "new look" on life and ensure their success as leaders throughout the world by identifying their talent, focusing on their education, exploring a future career, and doing something good for their community through service. Established in 1999, Usher's New Look Foundation has mentored over 9000 youths through more than 150 000 hours of training across its four leadership pillars.

"It is through exposure to such opportunities that we would begin to channel our youths' aspirations to constructive career choices, at the same time, building future leaders in business, through entrepreneurship and skills development," said Usher Raymond IV, founder and chairman of UNLF.

SA youths to travel to Atlanta

As part of the Peace is Powered By Service programme, five South African youths will also be recruited to attend New Look's annual World Leadership Conference, taking place in Atlanta, Georgia from 19 to 23 June, 2012. This event brings together hundreds of youths from all over the world to participate in substantive leadership workshops and panels led by New Look youths, as well as newsmakers, business leaders, artists, musicians, journalists and local personalities. An objective of this programme is to expose the recruited youths from South Africa to new opportunities, global challenges and, most importantly, global solutions. They, in turn, will share these experiences and insights so that other South African youths are encouraged to lead better lives and aspire to contribute positively to their country.

"This programme is a good fit with our Certificate Programme in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation for Youth, which is aimed at providing unemployed graduates with entrepreneurial know-how and skills while developing their self-esteem, attitude to success and self-belief," said Tim Tebeila, patron and founder of the Tim Tebeila Foundation. "The government cannot do it alone, and we have committed ourselves to aid the government in their efforts to provide the most powerful passport to freedom, which is education."