In Mamelodi, the heartbeat of Pretoria’s township economy, a new generation of entrepreneurs is quietly rewriting South Africa’s growth story. The Department of Small Business Development (DSBD), led by Minister Stella Ndabeni, has launched an assertive grassroots effort to ignite entrepreneurship among school learners an initiative that could redefine how South Africa cultivates its next wave of innovators.
At Emthunzini Primary School, the Entrepreneurship Market Day Outreach Programme unfolded under the banner, “Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship in Learners for Economic Prosperity.” The event, hosted in collaboration with the Small Enterprise Development and Finance Agency (SEFA), blended the energy of a township market with the structure of a business incubator.
Young learners showcased a surprisingly diverse array of ventures from small-scale bakeries and shoe-cleaning services to vegetable stalls and student-led DJ and make-up businesses. Each venture reflected the kind of creative resilience that defines Africa’s informal economy practical, adaptive and deeply rooted in local opportunity.
Minister Ndabeni toured the exhibitions, engaging with the student entrepreneurs and their teachers. She lauded their determination.
The day ended with an awards ceremony recognising the most innovative enterprise and the learner who achieved the highest sales. But for many, the most impactful moment came in Minister Ndabeni’s closing remarks: a pledge that the DSBD will return in January 2026 to equip the young business owners with machinery and tools to grow their ventures beyond the schoolyard.
This initiative forms part of South Africa’s broader strategy to strengthen youth entrepreneurship as a lever for economic recovery and job creation. The DSBD’s programmes, backed by agencies like SEFA and SEDA (Small Enterprise Development Agency), are increasingly targeting early exposure to business education, seeking to make entrepreneurship not just an aspiration but a viable career path.
The Mamelodi outreach highlights a growing recognition that innovation does not begin in boardrooms or incubators but in classrooms and community spaces. Across Africa, similar youth-driven programmes are emerging, signalling a quiet but powerful shift toward sustainable, locally anchored entrepreneurship.
By cultivating enterprise thinking from an early age, the DSBD aims to transform what has often been seen as a “survival economy” into a generation of confident, capable business leaders. In doing so, it aligns with continental ambitions to position Africa’s youth as the youngest population on earth as a competitive force in global markets.
As the applause faded at Emthunzini, one thing was clear, these learners are not waiting for opportunities to arrive they are building them.
