After more than a decade of trying to persuade authorities of the value of teaching entrepreneurship in schools, Lydia Zingoni, founder of the Teen Entrepreneur concept, is starting to make some headway.



By Nick Said



South Africa has targeted the creation of one million new entrepreneurs by 2030, but a schooling system, says Lydia Zingoni, weighed down by a lack of resources, infrastructure and a curriculum that focuses on traditional subject matter makes that seemingly a pipe dream.



Zingoni, founder of the Teen Entrepreneur concept, is hoping to change that and after more than a decade of trying to persuade authorities of the value of teaching entrepreneurship in schools, is starting to make some headway.



“The person you want in 2030 to be creating a business is likely in school at this time somewhere in South Africa,” Zingoni tells FORBES AFRICA. “You need to reach them now in order to create that mindset and begin to build the support structure around them.”&nbsp;



Zingoni, who was born in Zimbabwe but has lived and worked in London and now Cape Town for almost three decades, is hoping to revolutionize this space in South Africa and beyond its borders to across the African continent. &nbsp;



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“I came to realize this need when I was working for CPUT [Cape Peninsula University of Technology] as the director of information and libraries, and four young people came to my office and said, ‘look, we know we are not going to get jobs, we want information [on opening their own business].



“This was back in 2006 when internet resources and opportunities [for online learning] were obviously far less developed.”



Zingoni recognized a growing desire among young people to cut their own path in business, but there was little practical support from institutions.&nbsp;



She also believed these learnings should start much earlier, before tertiary education, and that schools would be an essential breeding ground for entrepreneurs.



She stepped up her plans in 2009 to form Teen Entrepreneur, a non-profit organization, and went to the Department of Education to push for a program in schools that would expose learners to the idea of entrepreneurship and help them develop their concepts.



“They were not really interested, they said, ‘science and maths is really what is important, entrepreneurship is not what we are focussing on’. So I decided to go it alone and left CPUT to create Teen Entrepreneur, which has involved advocating and creating programs to support young people in developing business ideas and skills.”



The plan is to create entrepreneur ‘societies’ in schools where learners can develop their own ideas and get the support they need to turn them into practical businesses.



“It is easier said than done,” Zingoni admits. “You can go to a school and talk to the kids for 10 minutes in assembly, but then what? You are not going to convince them that way.”



Zingoni instead approached schools to create a lesson outside of normal hours with up to 50 learners taking part. But it has been painstaking work.&nbsp;



“We have a program that has 11 modules, but the core is how do you come up with a business idea. If you are in Khayelitsha [a township in South Africa’s Western Cape province] or wherever, it is not just in major centers where entrepreneurship is an option.&nbsp;



“Look within your local community, use your passion and talent to see how you can solve your own community’s problems. Obviously, there is a social element to it, but it must have a financial gain to convince young people that entrepreneurship is an option.”



Teen Entrepreneur also hosts weekend programs, monthly indabas and conferences that are in addition to the work they do in schools.



“It has been a slow process. Very slow in fact. The hardest thing has been convincing policy-makers that we need to expose young people to an entrepreneurial mindset and culture.



But we are getting to where we want to be, although obviously the Covid-19 pandemic has set us back this past year,” Zingoni says.



“We are now working with the Eastern Cape government, who love our program. The Department of Education is also now finally running what they call the E3 program [Entrepreneurship, Education, Employability] and they have partnered with us on this. That has given us access to all South African [government] schools. If there was no Covid, we would have already rolled out that program.”



But the reach into schools across the country presents a massive logistical challenge, and that is where Teen Entrepreneur has turned to technology.



“If we went into every school, it would mean I am in charge of 27,000 teachers who will present the program,” Zingoni says. “Then multiply that by may be 50 learners in each program… it is a massive reach.



“In 2016, we decided to create a digital platform for the program, where we could refer the teachers to the portal [to get the information they need]. It took until 2019 to find a partner to assist us, and that was the University of Cape Town’s computer department.



“Schools can now get all the information they need online and create their own entrepreneurship societies in that environment.”



Zingoni says the program grapples with topics very much relevant to the world of today. &nbsp;&nbsp;



“Sustainability, the environment and climate change are factors we delve into, and it is about creating businesses that are cognizant of these issues.”



She adds they have already received interest from outside of South Africa in their program, and the decision to go digital has opened other doors.



“This is not just a South African issue, it is an African problem,” she says. “We have had interest from Tanzania, Kenya, Togo… now you can learn online, it is possible to have the program in these countries and it costs nothing to take part.”

Lydia3

How To Become A CEO At 16

Arun Chadha has done well for himself far from home. He overcame racism, built a company from the ground up and now runs a steel exporter that employs 300 people and turns over billions of rands, in a cutthroat business, in Johannesburg.
It all began in India, 7,559 kilometers from Johannesburg. It was humble fireside teachings from his father, who worked for the government, that led him to a career that took him to Africa 28 years ago.
“The one thing my father gave us was good education. I did my chartered accountancy, took up a job in the Middle East and then moved to Zambia in 1988,” says Chadha.
He was poached by another company and transferred to South Africa as an expatriate. It was here where trouble began.
“I came and took over as the Chief Executive of a British company. I faced a lot of problems because people refused to come and meet me because I am Indian. I used to get phone calls from people threatening me because of the color of my skin or cars following me,” he recalls.
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It was hard but Chadha was harder. It took him just three months to show people skin didn’t matter to him.
“Surprisingly these same white guys became some of my closest friends as soon as they realized that our blood is all red, it’s not the skin that makes the difference, what makes the difference is the approach to things and the important thing is work.”
In 1994 he was transferred to New York. He decided South Africa was a beautiful country and he came back, became a permanent resident and Allied Chemicals and Steel, a general export business, was born.
“I had no problems setting up the company, getting a VAT registration or opening a bank account, none at all. I got all my approvals within three weeks,” he says.
Running his own business wasn’t easy. The first year’s turnover was R9-million ($656,000) but profit was a mere R20,000 ($1,500). This wasn’t enough to sustain the comfortable life he was used to as an expatriate.
“Life as an expatriate is very cushy because your house, car, furniture, children’s education and everything is paid for by the company. All of a sudden when you resign and start your own company, you have to pay for everything yourself,” says Chadha.
Expenses rose. He had to cut back. With his wife, they moved to a small rented flat for R3,500 ($250) where they stayed until the year 2000 when they bought their first home.
“Everything that was earned went back to the company to grow the company. What you see today is from those beginnings. The one [thing] that was there, which was on my side, was education… You might not use your education but it’s a stepping stone towards your next level,” he says.
In 1996 the company focused on its core product, steel. The business grew at a rapid rate. From the year 2000 to 2008, they touched a turnover of over a billion rand ($73 million).
“The problem thought though was always that I am a trader and not manufacturer. Sooner or later, someone will override me or overstep me and I will not be able to compete with them.”
In 2010, Chadha bought a piece of land, near Vereeniging, south of Johannesburg, to build a steel factory.
“That’s when I met Warne Rippon, he used to have a company called Steelrode and we decided to merge the two companies because we were not conflicting with each other. One was exporting into Africa and the other was focused on South Africa,” he says.
It was a long process. It took six months for the merger to be approved.
“From the days of 1994 where it took me 24 hours, it took us six months to get a VAT registration. That’s some of the frustrations new business people are facing now. I do not understand why it takes so long…,” he says.
The merger was finalized on March 1, 2013, giving birth to Allied Steelrode, which employs 300 people. The company has tripled its turnover in the last three years; but not without problems.
As an export company into Africa, it deals with emerging markets, some suffering from a cash crisis and others with unstable politics which weakens the economy.
“In Zimbabwe we are facing problems because the people we export to have the money in the banks but the banks can’t remit the money to us. We now have to accept money in pounds, euros, US dollars, and whatever is available… The devaluation in Zambia has been great. But after the elections are over and [President Edgar] Lungu has come in, it has been fairly stable.”
For Chadha, the biggest problem in Africa is the falling commodity prices.
“We hope the commodity prices start looking up in 2017. We see that oil has gone up, gold prices have gone up and that’s why steel prices are shooting up at the moment. I have a feeling 2017 is going to be a better year than 2016.”
It is optimism, steadfastness and kindness that led him to the top at the end of a 7,559-kilometer journey.

Tag: Chief Executive

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

How To Become A CEO At 16

‘People Refused To Come And Meet Me Because I Am Indian’