It was recently revealed by a United Nations (UN) agency that global youth unemployment has risen to near its crisis peak and it is predicted that it will keep on rising over the next five years. In answer to this, the Vaal Triangle Campus of the North-West University (NWU Vaal) launched a unique student organisation aimed at motivating university students to heed the call of entrepreneurship. The Young Entrepreneur Business Organisation – or YEBO as it is known, aims to improve entrepreneurship awareness among students and by doing so influence young people into having a positive outlook on business ownership.
According to Mrs Natanya Meyer, a lecturer in the School of Economic Sciences – within the Faculty of Economic Sciences and Information Technology, and the coordinator of YEBO, the importance of entrepreneurship is underpinned in the National Development Plan for South Africa. “Entrepreneurship offers an effective method to counteract the crisis of unemployment,” says Meyer and adds that by promoting entrepreneurship as a preferred career choice, the Vaal Triangle Campus is pro-actively shaping the country’s next generation of entrepreneurial giants.
Although still in its infancy, YEBO has already made a big impact on the international scene. A delegation consisting of six members recently visit Holland to take part in the annual Global Entrepreneurship Week. During this week, the YEBO team took part in various business challenges and managed to clinch a third place – a great accomplishment if you consider that YEBO represents a first-of-its-kind organisation in South Africa.
The organisation enjoys affiliation from the campus’s Student Representative Council (SRC) whilst functioning within sphere of the Bhive EDC (Enterprise Development Centre). The latter represents a dynamic unit within the Faculty of Economic Sciences and Information Technology.
Bhive EDC
The Bhive EDC serves as an incubation facility for entrepreneurship in the Vaal Triangle region as well as the Gauteng province. The incubation facility – known as the EDC, represents a dynamic collaboration between the Faculty and the Netherlands Initiative for Capacity Development in Higher Education (Nuffic). The Bhive EDC strives to be an entrepreneurial change agent to help students to develop and build a sustainable business. One way of reaching this aim is through initiatives such as YEBO.
For more information, contact (016) 910 3343 or send an email to YEBO@nwu.ac.za
To find out more about the Bhive EDC entrepreneurship competition, click here.
To visit the NWU Vaal website, click here.