Water, Sewage & Effluent January February 2019

About SAB KickStart 29 innovations Water Sewage & Effluent January/February 2019 www.waterafrica.co.za SAB KickStart is one of South Africa’s longest- running and most successful youth development programmes. Started in 1995, the programme has evolved to maximise its impact on the challenge of youth unemployment in South Africa, and is now aimed at creating meaningful jobs in South Africa by growing sustainable youth-owned businesses. Targeted at youth between the ages of 18 and 35, SAB KickStart has, to date, upskilled more than 25 000 entrepreneurs and empowered over 3 500 youth-owned businesses in South Africa. It has extended its reach outside of South Africa to an additional six countries across Africa, including Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Uganda. The platform caters for young entrepreneurs at two stages of their entrepreneurship life cycle: early-stage entrepreneurs who respond to an open innovation challenge with disruptive ideas that can assist the company in solving its business challenges; and entrepreneurs who are running emerging, profitable businesses and are looking for tools to equip them to join a supply chain. In 2018, SAB KickStart helped to build strong businesses that will not only last beyond the business’ ‘survivalist’ stage, but become sustainable entities that meaningfully contribute to the economy. SAB works closely with the SAB KickStart Boost finalists to find opportunities for them to increase their market access, including helping them to connect with appropriate local stakeholders within their respective communities so that more people adopt their services and support their business growth. Businesses are assisted with aligning to supply chain requirements and are offered targeted market linkages. In addition, the programme has embarked on an innovative job-creation project through partnering with young SMEs in niche sectors, in particular agriculture. SAB KickStart and its programmes SAB KickStart Boost and SAB KickStart Ignite are among several entrepreneurship development programmes developed by SAB. Collectively, through these programmes, SAB and AB InBev aim to create 10 000 jobs in South Africa by 2022. Water Sewage & Effluent January/February 2019 29

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