Category: Youth and The Green Economy articles

Paper industry association opens applications to BSc students for its bursary and research programme

Johannesburg, June 2, 2021 – The Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA) Masters of Engineering bursary programme is now open for applications for the 2022/2023 intake. A limited number of students will have the opportunity to further their master’s studies at participating universities by way of a R260,000 bursary over two years.

Capsicum Culinary Studio Open Day 2021

A career in food may change your life!

98% of adults in South Africa willing to take personal action on sustainability issues

• 81% of adults in South Africa are more mindful of their impact on the environment since COVID-19, with the trend being led by Gen Z (89%)
• Three quarters of South African respondents (76%) say companies behaving in more sustainable and eco-friendly ways is more important than before

Wärtsilä partners with Ambitious.Africa to support young African talents

Ambitious.Africa supports and encourages young people in Africa and the Nordic countries to actively participate in working for a better future.

The Greenovate Awards triumph despite lockdown

The winners of the student Greenovate Awards 2020 have been announced, but not with the usual gala ceremony. Instead, like the rest of the prestigious competition, the honours were conducted online following a uniquely challenging year.

10th annual Eco-Logic Awards opens for entries with three new categories

Entries are now open for the 10th annual Eco-Logic Awards hosted by the Enviropaedia.

Call It Spring’s Kind AF campaign, the Kindest Collection Ever

Call It Spring (CIS), the world’s kindest vegan shoe and accessory brand, knows that more than anything, kindness looks super good on you.

Game-changing initiative to fight youth unemployment in the township

Youth unemployment is the single biggest threat to the future of South Africa. According to Errol Freeman, CEO of Lulalab, pilot projects can provide an innovative solution to address the high unemployment rate among young people in the township.

“The project is implemented to improve the living conditions and hygienic practices of township households while creating jobs in the process,” says Freeman.

The Lulalab Early Employment Support programme was born in 2016 as a sister organisation to Lulalway Holdings, in order to focus exclusively on social impact projects and increase their reach and impact within communities.

“We find innovative ways to create sustainable jobs for youth while solving the country’s pressing social problems, like skills shortage, entrepreneur support and sanitation. We are committed to lasting impact so all our solutions are research-informed and meticulously monitored.”

Errol Freeman, CEO of Lulalab

The Early Employment Support programme successfully executed its first project late last year in Hopefield, Soweto, where they installed gravity solar geysers to 25 houses.

Freeman says this programme is a significant impact to the youth unemployment crisis. This opportunity can create new jobs and change lives at household and community level.

“The proposed intervention aims to provide an innovative solution to address the current challenges facing people daily in the townships and to assist in providing unemployed township youth with the opportunity to manufacture, install and maintain gravity-fed solar-powered geysers within their communities,” concludes Freeman.

Imvelisi Enviropreneurs Programme sets young entrepreneurs up for success in SA’s green economy

In 2020 the South African government published its Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan. The plan recognises green economy interventions as a critical factor in not only addressing the country’s persistent challenges of inequality, poverty and unemployment but also in offering a sustainable solution to driving economic competitiveness.

The programme is funded by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and is in partnership with GreenMatterZA and the South African Young Water Professionals Network (YWP-ZA). It consists of two key components. The first is a training boot camp that fosters entrepreneurship and business success by giving 50 young and aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to explore their ideas and gain insight into starting a business in the water, biodiversity and environmental sectors.

The second component of the programme selects six participants who have shown unique potential during the boot camp, giving them access to mentorship and one-on-one support for 12 weeks.

The Imvelisi Enviropreneurs Programme has trained a total of 132 enviropreneurs to-date and recently concluded its fourth boot camp in November, the first one launched in 2015. This was just in time for the start of Global Entrepreneurship Week (16-22 November), which celebrated innovators who dream big and launch start-ups that bring ideas to life.

“There are hundreds of business incubators, enterprise development and business mentorship programmes operating in South Africa, yet ideation phase enviropreneurs still struggle due to a lack of support in the early stages of the business development cycle,” says Janavi Da Silva, Director of Programmes at GreenMatter.

“Our Enviropreneurs Programme provides ideation training to young enviropreneurs, equipping them with the knowledge, skills and resources to assess market potential, structure a business and partnership proposal and test the viability of their ideas and concepts. We create opportunities for them to learn, adapt and network in the green sector.”

Imvelisi not only helps break down the barriers to entry but is also aware that countless entrepreneurs spend a significant amount of time and money trying to determine if there would be a potential market for their product or service offering. To simplify the process, Imvelisi provides detailed Market Intelligence Reports that include a wide range of business opportunities that currently exist in the green economy. The reports significantly cut down the cost of market entry.

The programme is constantly evolving to offer aspiring young environmental entrepreneurs the best business advice, technical insights relevant to their unique environmental discipline and mentorship to help develop their business plans. More recent developments include the introduction of guidebooks designed specifically for entrepreneurs looking to start invasive alien plant species removal and beneficiations businesses.

Partner and stakeholder investments have seen the programme digitise its bootcamps to offer virtual, extended month-long sessions, as opposed to its previous one-week bootcamp. Placing the entrepreneurs under pressure to pitch after four days. Entrepreneurs now have access to a more flexible Enviropreneur programme guided by industry experts who walk the journey with the attendees to ensure they develop their business plans more effectively and get even more knowledge and insights from the training sessions.

“We’ve seen a massive difference since the introduction of our virtual boot camp, where entrepreneurs are pitching much stronger business ideas to the team. This is a significant improvement compared to previous years and we owe it to the additional hands-on support from industry experts we’ve been able to bring on board. Going into the future, we plan on continuing to innovate so we can reach even more Enviropreneurs and expanding the impact we’ve been able to make so far, looking into the future for a greener economy on the African continent,” adds Da Silva.

“The Imvelisi Enviropreneurs programme is a necessary step for entrepreneurs looking to develop themselves professionally. We’re proud to be a part of such an impactful initiative, which forms a critical part of early-stage entrepreneurial development,” adds Lucky Litelu, Project Lead from South African Young Water Professionals.

“The programme enables entrepreneurs to turn their green business ideas from cerebral thoughts into tangible businesses and gives me confidence that the future of South Africa and the future of the African continent is in the right hands.” 

Visit Imvelisi.org to find out more about the Enviropreneurs Programme. 

VIDEO | Greta Thunberg

The disarming case to act right now on climate change

TEDxStockholm

In this passionate call to action, 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg explains why, in August 2018, she walked out of school and organized a strike to raise awareness of global warming, protesting outside the Swedish parliament and grabbing the world’s attention. “The climate crisis has already been solved. We already have all the facts and solutions,” Thunberg says. “All we have to do is to wake up and change.”

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxStockholm, an independent event.