Encouraging students to become young entrepreneurs

The Department of Learner support had its follow-up meeting with the South African Council for Graduates Co-operative (SACGC) on 4 May.

The SACGC was established to grow a higher calibre of youth. Since the organisation started, it has attained R2.7-million worth of projects where 20 co-operatives belong to 80 youth members from nine provinces.

The organisation has informed VUT interns of its new and exciting waste management project. The project will benefit mostly chemical engineering students, empowering graduates with internship opportunities in different fields and provide entrepreneurship training for 50 selected candidates who have already signed up.

The SACGC has introduced a secondary co-operative called the Graduate Empowerment movement of South Africa (GESMA).

GEMSA is a student development society used to unlock entrepreneurship and create a home for students to voice their issues. The CEO and Executive Chairman of SACGC Thamsanqa Maqubela is its National Convener.

VUT will be the first of its branches to have GESMA. "We identified VUT because it plays an important role within the Gauteng region. VUT has always been in our view, in terms of their international collaboration, and its warm welcome of student development programmes," said Rowan Sampson, the SACGC Outreach and Entrepreneurship Officer.

GEMSA together with SACGC concluded by stating that their priority is to encourage students to start up their own small businesses.