PRESS RELEASE

Winter Academy for teen entrepreneurs

Teams of teens will compete against each other in an entrepreneurial challenge to win a grand prize of R10 000 to further develop their business concept. The Winter Academy will be hosted by entrepreneurial skills training organisation, SA Teen Entrepreneur Foundation. The event will run from 27 June until to 1 July at Old Mutual in Pinelands, Cape Town.

The workshop, set to be an annual event in all major centres nationally, will run over five days, during which four to five teams of teenagers will be required to develop a business idea and put together a structure to cultivate their concept.

“The aim of the workshop, and the Teen Entrepreneur Foundation in general, is to raise a culture of entrepreneurship among the teen segment of South Africa’s population,” Founder of Teen Entrepreneur, Lydia Zingoni said. “In light of the extremely high unemployment rates in South Africa, especially amongst the youth, entrepreneurship programmes are an absolute imperative.”

During the workshop, teens will participate in lectures, hands-on learning sessions and creative problem solving tasks, before pitching their idea to a panel of local business professionals on the final day.

The workshop will be facilitated by three of Cape Town’s top entrepreneurial thinkers and coaches. Songwriter, author, entrepreneur and “errorthoughtical” engineer, Peter Greenwall, will be joined by entertainer, entrepreneur and top magician, Marcel Oudejans and business coach for entrepreneurs, Bruce Wade. Together, the three will mentor, entertain and coach teens on entrepreneurship and the endless opportunities available to them.

The Winter Academy is the second school holiday workshop hosted by Teen Entrepreneur. During the 2010 June / July holidays, the foundation hosted a successful Teen Biz Building Boot Camp at the MTN Science Centre at Canal Walk and the University of the Western Cape. The event attracted over 200 participants. While last years boot camp focused on presenting information about where and how to come up with a business idea and awarded various spot prizes for the best concepts, this year will focus on building the big idea behind a business idea.

For information on how to participate or get involved visit www.teenentrepreneur.co.za or contact SA Teen Entrepreneur Founder and Director Lydia Zingoni on zingonil@teenentrepreneur.co.za / 082 907 0739.

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Distributed by Media Spot on behalf of SA Teen Entrepreneur Foundation:
Founder and Director, Lydia Zingoni
For more information, contact Media Spot:
Beverley Houston
beverley@mediaspot.co.za
082 824 8617