Teens urged to become entrepreneurs
2011-09-01 11:13
Cape Town - A 20-year-old British millionaire and entrepreneur has encouraged South African teenagers to work hard and turn their entrepreneurial dreams into working businesses.
Sabirul Islam was speaking to pupils at the launch of the SA Teen Entrepreneur Foundation in Cape Town. The NGO aims to create a platform for young people to gain business skills and create employment opportunities for themselves instead of being jobless after leaving school.
Other speakers at the event included Western Cape Community Safety MEC and former Cape Town mayor Dan Plato and the founder of Auction Alliance, Rael Levitt.
Islam, who started a web design business at 14, became a junior trader at 16 and launched his first book, The World at Your Feet, at 17. By 18 he had developed his own business board game called Teen-Trepreneur, which has sold in 14 countries and is now used in over 450 schools across the UK. At the same time he published his second book, The World at Your Feet: Three Strikes to a Successful Entrepreneurial Life.
Vision
His vision to inspire young people has expanded to reaching millions of teens, through his ‘Inspire 1 Million,’ campaign across the US, Europe, Africa and Asia.
“Through my experiences as a young entrepreneur, I hope to inspire and provide a vision and opportunity for an ordinary individual to become an extraordinary entrepreneur. I do not only want to inspire young people, but to educate them about the world of entrepreneurship and taking risks - it requires hard work and dedication to turn a plan into a working business,” Islam said.
The founder and director of the SA Teen Entrepreneur Foundation, Lydia Zingoni, described Islam as a shining example of a teen entrepreneur, adding that "there is no reason why our South African teens can’t be as successful as him”.
“A culture of entrepreneurship amongst the youth is so important. There is a dire need for job creation amongst this age group. Too many teenagers are leaving school without any prospects of ever getting a job,” Zingoni said.
According to the South African Institute of Race Relations, 51% of South Africans aged between 15 and 24 are unemployed - over double the overall population’s unemployment statistics.