The Youth Entrepreneurship Accelerator Programme (YEAP)

The Youth Entrepreneurship Accelerator Programme (YEAP) Youth unemployment has been extensively identified in the literature as a significant economic malaise causing social inequalities and leading to social vices, especially in SSA. The ability of young people to innovate, adapt and embrace change is equally acknowledged as crucial to addressing the problem of unemployment and its […]

WECAP- Wits Entrepreneurship Clinic Accelerator Programme

Creating Job Opportunities for the Youth in South Africa The Total Entrepreneurial Activity score in South Africa is approximately 11%, while unemployment amongst South African youth grows at an alarming rate of 63%. This is due to the little support for entrepreneurship as a career trajectory historically at the university level despite its significant establishment. […]

U-CoHUB

The 21st-century market reality is characterised by a considerable gap between school curricula and marketplace demand. Most graduates in the marketplace need to develop relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes required to solve critical problems in the workplace while in school. Nigeria’s population has a large percentage of young inhabitants, and there is a high demand […]

TransCIIT

TransCIIT: Transforming Climate Innovation Ecosystems through Inclusive Transdisciplinarity.   Matching the climate entrepreneur’s needs with masters students’ expertise Sub-Saharan African countries characterised by high poverty index, growing population, and increased pollution levels pose a significant danger of harsh realities of climate change.  Therefore, the COVID pandemic and the growing poverty group in SSA countries will […]

The Nexus Project

In 2040, Africa will be the continent with the largest workforce in the world.  However, today’s job prospects are insufficient for the working-age population, and formal jobs cannot absorb this increasingly talented and creative body of workers.  Entrepreneurship is a promising approach to “transform job seekers into job creators”, hence the challenge – How can […]

Supporting youth social entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa (SYSE)

Social Entrepreneurship Opportunities to solve Youth unemployment in SSA. Despite Sub-Saharan African youth demonstrating clear social entrepreneurial intention or practice, considerable barriers exist for social entrepreneurs starting and scaling their enterprises.  South Africa, just like other SSA countries, experiences significant obstacles to social entrepreneurs starting & scaling their enterprises, including lower personal investment funds & […]

STEM and Social Impact Business Incubator

Africa currently has the youngest population in the world.  Africa, therefore also has the world’s fastest-growing labour force, which means the continent needs to upskill the workforce, create jobs and increase job creators. Innovative interventions are needed to equip the youth with the necessary skills to gain employment and upskill the job creators to create […]

SHAPE Agri-entrepreneurship

SHAPE Agri-entrepreneurship Systemic Action Learning and Action Research (SALAR) initiative for social innovation According to United Nations, 60% of the jobless population in Africa consists of young people.  The unemployment rate amongst youth in South Africa stands at 29.2% compared to the global estimate of between 6.3-6.5% (World Bank, 2021). This rate of unemployment hinders […]

Project KENTEN

A third of the global annual food production, approximately 1.3 billion tons, is lost due to post-harvest losses and farmers bear the brunt of post-harvest losses. Project Kenten (Local language Twi for “basket”) explores problems facing agri-business in Ghana from a logistics perspective.  From Post-Harvest Losses (PHL) of up to 40 per cent from rural […]

Innovation for the digital economy

The long-standing issue of youth unemployment in South Africa has recently intensified due to digital transformation and changes to business models prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic. While entrepreneurs and other self-employed people have been particularly badly hit, with significant decreases in trading activities and high levels of uncertainty affecting well-being, some entrepreneurs have thrived and […]