The Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme of the Department of Higher Education, in collaboration with Universities South Africa (USAf), a movement in student entrepreneurship will present its annual Student Entrepreneur Week (SEW), taking place from 14-16 September 2021 with a launch on Tuesday, 14 September 2021, 09:00 online. The SEW is building on the accomplishments and turn around since its inception in 2017. Aiming for all public universities to partake on this magnitude partnership, the EDHE initiative has developed in a number of regions. This opportunity for student enrolled at university is diversifying opportunities and creating platforms for employment opportunities.
With the aims and objectives to alarm students on entrepreneurship and other avenues to grow in the economy, SEW raised awareness and created platforms to diversify our economic growth channels. The unemployment rate is still a challenging issue in our country which questions the number graduates struggling to score a formal employment opportunity. The SEW campaigns challenges the young minds to think and look at alternatives that can substantiate and challenge the rapidly growing numbers of unemployment.
The year 2020 brought change with digital platforms explored and introduced change. This year is no different as we continue to explore the hybrid ways that are becoming the new norm. Registration has opened and you can follow the link www.edhe.co.za/sew-2021 to register for this years’ experience with insightful speakers like Mark Anthony Rowan Kotze and Chad Lucas to name but few.
In a context where students struggle to make ends meet while studying, the message is that they might try their hand at some form of businesses, thus pursuing the best of the academic world alongside the business world.
Background to Student Entrepreneurship Week
National Student Entrepreneurship Week was piloted in 2017 and was successfully executed on by 19 public universities and the first TVET college through the hosting of in-house programmes in partnership with business, industry and NPOs. This happened through the entrepreneurial and innovative actions of dynamic champions for entrepreneurship at the participating institutions. Each institution designed their own one-week programme suited to their students and context, mostly by optimising their existing resources and expertise, joining forces with the private sector and business community, and sourcing sponsorships.
About Sol Plaatje University
The Sol Plaatje University, provisionally been referred to as the University of the Northern Cape, opened in Kimberley, South Africa, in 2014, accommodating an intake of 135 students. The student complement is expected to increase gradually towards a target of 7 500 students by 2024. The rise in creative minds at the university scored a win in the 2021 SEW design competition
