Winners of the 2nd annual Entrepreneurial Matriculant of the Year Competition walk away with full CUT bursaries and cash prizes

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Winners of the 2nd annual Entrepreneurial Matriculant of the Year Competition walk away with full CUT bursaries and cash prizes

The Central University of Technology in collaboration with Standard Bank South Africa (SBSA) and Central Media Group (CMG) hosted the finals of the second annual 2022 Entrepreneurial Matriculant of the Year Competition (EMYC) on 01 October 2022. The EMYC is an annual contest hosted for grade 12 learners envisioned to challenge and increase their problem-solving and decision-making abilities, and improve their interpersonal skills, teamwork, and knowledge of money management.

The competition is for young aspiring entrepreneurs from the Free State and Northern Cape Provinces, which allows them to attempt to conceive, describe and present business ideas in order to enhance their entrepreneurial skills. The aim is to encourage self-learning, provide real-life experiences to learners in developing business plans and pitching to investors and also, inspire them to consider entrepreneurship education as their possible career path.

In his address, Prof. Samson Mashele, acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal commended the Standard Bank and the Central Media Group for the critical role they played in ensuring the success of the Entrepreneurial Matriculant of the Year Competition, and the distinction and excellence that they have brought to this partnership. He expressed the partnership as deservedly recognised and acknowledged. “As CUT, we are privileged to see how best this new thinking of entrepreneurship education can be aligned and embedded into the teaching, research, and community engagement programmes of the University to develop innovative and entrepreneurially oriented young people with the capacity to start and grow their companies and create job opportunities for others. Our university is in the business of igniting young minds through entrepreneurship, and it is my fervent hope that this award will continue to serve its purpose of embedding an entrepreneurial spirit among our young ones, leading us into the future of innovation and entrepreneurship education in our province and the country,” he said.

Prof. Mashele further stated that the young entrepreneurs are heroes that deserve to be celebrated and aspirations of what the university aim to achieve with graduates “as they reflect the values we revere, the accomplishments we respect and the hopes that give our lives meaning. By celebrating them, we honour our past, energize our present and shape our future.”

He applauded the participating matriculants for their efforts and commitment “Let us treat every day as a challenge for us to make a meaningful change in the lives of our young ones through entrepreneurship and innovations,” he concluded.

This year’s panel of adjudicators included the likes of Ms Sheeren Stamier, Head of Enterprise Direct Banking at Standard Bank South Africa-Bloemfontein Branch, Ms Olebogeng Mojanaga, Private Banker-Standard Bank Group, Ms Eleanor Nel, Project Coordinator from CUT, Mr Marnus van Zyl, CUT Lecturer and Mr Eduard Loots, Independent Financial Planner.

When asked about the level of aptitude in this year’s group of aspiring entrepreneurs, Ms Olebogeng Mojanaga had this to say, “I am quite impressed by just how the youth is observing what’s happening around them and the way they are also looking at the current problems with the aim of bringing change in their communities. This is a positive challenge towards us as Standard Bank to say how do we collaborate even more especially with the youth, and how do we bring about change within the communities that we are operating in.

Mr Eduard Loots expressed his excitement about the competition. “I feel very excited mostly on the quality of presentations from the learners and I believe that this competition serves as an opportunity to develop future energetic entrepreneurs.”

Captions

1: Pictured are the winners of the 2022 EMYC. From left, Zeta Cole (first place), Omphile Choane (second place), and Lungile Vilakazi (third place). There were eight winners with one group project (Aranchia Brandt, Jo-Nell Boyce, Nash Lynn Pieters and Inga Kuswayo), as well as Milanindesonwabe Msomi.

2: A panel of adjudicators listening to Omphile Choane’s presentation. Omphile is a grade 12 aspiring entrepreneur from Welkom High School.

Uploaded: 08 October 2022
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