Overview
About 7.2 million people in South Africa are unemployed, some living way below the poverty line; while most are young people between the ages of 18-45. The majority of the youth in Atteridgeville, a Township situated to the west of Pretoria South Africa, have resorted to crime and drugs as a quick getaway from their difficulties and it has been an unheeded pandemic for a while.
This is the case in every single township in South Africa. Townships were established during apartheid when the South African government separated citizens according to their race and tribes, denying black people basic rights. Sadly, to this day townships have not recovered from segregation, and none of them have developed or grown economically, apart from the occasional road advancements and sport stadium buildings in the excitement of global events that come and go.South African townships and rural communities are poverty-stricken, with a lack of access to resources and opportunities for young people.
Collaborative Efforts as a Solution
Startup Kasi is a youth township business hub that was developed inspired by the Global Entrepreneurship Network through one of its many programs, Startup Huddle, which is a free monthly program designed to Educate, Engage and Connect Entrepreneurs. Once every month, Entrepreneurs come together to pitch their startups, reveal challenges, and crowd-source solutions. From local and regional founders, innovators, educators, and investors, to a global network of Entrepreneurial leaders, Startup Huddle Atteridgeville has provided a unique platform for Township Startups in Tshwane to ignite the spirit of innovative entrepreneurship in underserved communities and build a thriving startup community.
Startup Kasi exists as an enabler and a space for young township entrepreneurs to find innovative ways of collaboratively solving the social, economical, and environmental issues that limit their capacity to thrive. We’re developing an Entrepreneurial Hub that serves as a resource center for entrepreneurs in the township of Atteridgeville, with an aim to grow across all townships in Tshwane, and then eventually South Africa and the rest of Africa. The long-term goal is to set up Entrepreneurial Hubs collaborating with localized hubs to deliver startup programs tailored for the needs of township entrepreneurs to fast-track digitization and help solve unemployment. Startup Kasi aims to serve local youth as an entrepreneurial hub that ignites the spirit of sustainable entrepreneurship by fostering spaces for young business minds to share space and innovative ideas, as well as start and grow their businesses from concept to launch.
Taking a Futuristic Approach
Our aim is to develop a local and international township collaborative ecosystem that partners with other local township entrepreneurial ecosystem builders to create a sustainable value chain of businesses that will benefit local communities, with an even greater mission to build an economically strong and prosperous future for youth in South Africa's townships and rural communities. With an exciting opportunity to explore digitization, sustainable development, the circular economy as well as STEM-related entrepreneurship as the solutions to social and environmental issues, the Startup Kasi Business Hub in Atteridgeville will host business programs and workshops dedicated to helping local businesses grow and transform the community through sustainable business activities.