“Winning the Simama-Ranta competition will enable us to invest in much-needed resources, create jobs, and continue giving back to our community, something the club holds very dear,” said Enett Mokoena, educator at the Lethulwazi Comprehensive School, upon their announcement as Gauteng’s provincial winners of Eskom’s 2021 Simama-Ranta high school entrepreneurship competition.
The Eskom Simama-Ranta competition has been running since 2010, promoting entrepreneurship among high school learners throughout South African high schools with enterprise clubs.
The Lethulwazi Comprehensive School’s Vosloorus-based enterprise club, Lethulwazi Pioneers, comprises 53 learners from Grades 8-11 and has operated since 2019. Although they did not meet the competition’s criteria to participate in 2019, the club was inspired to participate in the 2021 leg of the competition, after attending the 2019 award ceremony, and have gone on to win their first attempt.
The club grows its own vegetable garden, does beadwork, sewing, nail and hair grooming, and also supplies ice and laundry services.
“We’ve made great strides since 2019 and have seen more educators and learners join the club. The support from the school’s management and School Governing Body has been instrumental in motivating the club,” added Mokoena.
Their prize money will be used to purchase beading equipment, for tuckshop operations, and for a vegetable garden project.
“The club’s vision and approach resonate with us. Eskom applauds the club’s efforts to promote an entrepreneurial mindset among learners, such as the Entrepreneurship Day it hosted in 2019. Such efforts are aligned to what we endeavour to achieve through the Simama-Ranta programme,” said Eskom Development Foundation Chief Executive Officer, Cecil Ramonotsi.
The Rutasetjhaba Secondary School from Evaton was the first runner-up. Their five-year-old Risk Takers Yes Club specialises in manufacturing school bags, repairing tables, and creating beadwork.
“The club started off with two learners providing a gift-wrapping service, designing book covers using recycled paper, and doing beadwork. Over the years we have grown to 60 members, coming second in the 2017 provincial Simama-Ranta competition and being the provincial winners of the SAGE SA competition,” said club leader and teacher, Victries Radebe.
The school plans to use the prize money to install wall heaters in the classrooms and at a local home housing children with disabilities.
The Lakeside Secondary School’s “The Lakers Enterprise Club” from Palm Springs came in third in Gauteng. The club uses recycled material to produce functional decorative pieces, grow vegetables, sell snacks, and design bookmarks.
Kholosa Plaatjie, educator and club co-ordinator at the school, said: “Our community is underprivileged, and some households barely manage two meals a day. This programme has empowered learners to use their talents to become financially independent, and to improve the lives of their families and community.
“For a county to grow its economy it needs successful small businesses – as many as possible in as wide a range of activities as possible. This is where Eskom’s Simama Ranta competition is so important, reaching far and wide across our country into schools and opening doors for so many to better their own lives and the lives of those around them.
“To all our young people in Gauteng who have seized the opportunity to participate in the 2020 Simama-Ranta high school entrepreneurship competition, we congratulate you,” said Nthato Minyuku, Eskom’s Group Executive for Government and Regulatory Affairs.
