New entrepreneurship programme equips youth with green skills

3 Sep 2021

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) recent report painted a daunting picture for humanity, but a new Primestars youth entrepreneurship programme is showing youngsters new employment opportunities in the green economy.

Source: Pexels

Step Up 2 A Start Up is a youth entrepreneurship programme that aims to inspire and educate school-going learners about the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and opportunities that exist therein.

Equipping youngsters with green skills

This year, the programme focuses on climate change and provides youth with skills they need to thrive in both employment and business opportunities within the green economy sector.

The programme, called Step Up 2 A Green Start Up National Youth Green Entrepreneurship Programme, was officially launched with the premiere of entrepreneurship edutainment film, Karabo’s Kitchen, at the Ster-Kinekor cinema in Rosebank on Wednesday, 1 September.

The programme consists of four stages:

The edutainment feature film (Karabo’s Kitchen)
The Entrepreneurs Toolkit
The Step Up 2 A Start Up National Youth Entrepreneurship Competition
The bootcamp and National Youth Entrepreneurship Awards, where the best young entrepreneurs and green innovators will be recognised with bursaries, incubation, funding, resources and other support.

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Martin Sweet, managing director of Primestars, says that while climate change needs to be addressed at all levels of government and business, focusing on education solutions provides a long-term and sustainable way forward.

“Climate change is happening now, and progressing at an alarming rate. We need to take urgent action. A critical contributor to confronting the issue is a robust drive to educate South African youth on the dangers of climate change, as well as the new job and entrepreneurship opportunities available in the green economy,” Sweet says.