Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE)
Annually Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) hosts a number of initiatives to further assist in developing the entrepreneurial capacity of students, academics and leaders with the intention for students to be more successful in terms of becoming economically active during and after their tertiary education. Some of these initiatives are:
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Entrepreneurship Intervarsity
Entrepreneurship Intervarsity is held from March to October. This national competition sets out to identity the top student entrepreneurs at the South African public universities. It recognises and showcases their businesses and invite investment into this cohort of student businesses. The competition is run internally, then provincially and finally nationally.
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Student Entrepreneurship Week
Student Entrepreneurship Week is held in September. SEW is a one-week campaign that takes took place through the hosting of in-house programmes with business, industry and NPOs. The entrepreneurial and innovative campaigns are instrumental in raising awareness of entrepreneurship as a career, as well as emphasising the benefits of having the best of both worlds as a student and an entrepreneur.
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Lekgotla
Lekgotla is held in September. The Lekgotla is national event to share best practice, learn of latest trends and developments, and foster collaboration with regard to entrepreneurship in Higher Education. UCT annually has very good representation on the panel discussion. – all to the benefit of the South African universities, students and economy. Stakeholders in the EDHE ecosystem gather to share their learning and experience, while working on identifying and addressing challenges in the space of entrepreneurship development.
Each of these programmes are focused in ensuring that students and academics are given a platform to explore, learn and share their knowledge and experiences within the Entrepreneurship arena. These programmes are run within the 26 universities including University of Cape Town with the assistance of the Careers Service.
GSB Solution Space E-Track Programme
Run in partnership with Ayoba, the E-Track Programme is a three-phase early stage venture acceleration and a capacity building programme for high impact entrepreneurs in South Africa and beyond. Taking a high-touch scale-up approach, the programme is designed to support teams build scalable businesses with international potential. Individual participants can either explore their own business idea or join an existing venture. The programme also serves as a platform for corporate partners to engage and collaborate on specific research and development agendas.
Fuel Africa (Futurize)
Fuel Africa is one of the largest cross-university and international innovation programme across the continent, energizing and connecting the best minds across universities in Sub-Saharan Africa to solve healthcare’s biggest challenges and to turn students into entrepreneurs. Network, find co-founders, build your skillsets, learn about entrepreneurship and receive world-class mentorship from AstraZeneca & Microsoft.
Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Fellowship on Entrepreneurship
The Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Fellowship on Entrepreneurship gives African students and recent graduates the opportunity to access training, resources, financial support and a network of mentors to develop their entrepreneurial skills and start building their own venture. The 8-month program develops the exceptional entrepreneurial skillset and mindset of leaders to drive social and financial impact.