Nolethu Ndude, media liaison officer of Brown Sugar, said in celebrating Youth Month they have decided on lobbying for young entrepreneurs to help build the youth.

She said the youth of today is faced with various challenges.

Ndude said today’s youth is misguided and lack the ambition and drive demonstrated by the 1976 youth.

“Teenage pregnancy, HIV/Aids,crime, violence in schools and drug abuse seems to be the order of the day among the youth.

“80% of teenage girls fall pregnant before completing matric thus leading to an uneducated youth with no skills required for a standard job,” said Ndude

Ndude said young people of today need to work together and face the problem head-on instead of turning a blind eye to what is happening in our back yards.

She said HIV/Aids is the fastest growing disease among the African youth.

This means young people in black communities do not practice safe sex meaning that more and more children will be orphans.

Ndude said these were the things needed to be changed in society.

She said Brown Sugar aims at assisting youth in low income communities back to life.

“We plan to do this by educating them about this pandemic by taking them to practical examples.

In 2006 statistics for HIV/Aids in the Western Cape was 15.2%. This has since tripled in numbers.

Ndude said Brown Sugar is a company comprises of young dynamic women whose sole mandate is to work assisting individuals becoming self sufficient.

Their task is to teach fundamental business skills to practising and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Anthony Daniels, CEO Youth Commission in the Western Cape, said the event displaced the myth that the youth are always involved in anti-social behaviour and were not interested in what is happening in the economy of the country.

He aid the event also dispelled the myth that the black youth are involved in crime and were uneducated.

“This is a phenomenal sight to watch and see what kind of people have attended this event.

The value of the event demonstrate or has made it possible for young people to interact with others in terms of business.

This event has brought youth from different genders, race and colour from different communities together here today.

What binds them all together is because they are proudly South African with common sense in business. The idea is different to other youths thinking about committing crime and hijacking.

Daniels said all the young people gathered at this event were role models