Raising Young Entrepreneurs for a Changing Climate

Step Up 2 A Start Up nurtures an entrepreneurial mindset among South African high-school learners, helping them see themselves not only as future job seekers but also as potential job creators. Through practical learning experiences, young people are encouraged to identify challenges in their communities and develop business solutions that support a more sustainable future.

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Raising Young Entrepreneurs for a Changing Climate

Step Up 2 A Start Up nurtures an entrepreneurial mindset among South African high-school learners, helping them see themselves not only as future job seekers but also as potential job creators. Through practical learning experiences, young people are encouraged to identify challenges in their communities and develop business solutions that support a more sustainable future.

Step Up 2A Start Up

What Is The Programme About?

Step Up 2A Start Up was created to address a critical gap in the South African small business development ecosystem. We recognized that there was no supply of entrepreneurial youth entering the economy, and there was no growth mindset development at the school level.

The programme introduces learners to entrepreneurship, opportunity recognition and environmental responsibility. It connects classroom learning with practical application, encouraging young people to think critically, collaborate, test ideas and build the confidence to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities.

How does Step Up 2A Start Up work?

Edutainment Film

An illustrated, practical guide helps learners and educators turn lessons from the film into local solutions, using an accessible entrepreneurial process informed by Lean Startup principles.

Ecopreneurs Toolkit

Students work with their teachers in unpacking lessons through the entrepreneurs toolkit, which is a practical step-by-step guide on how to foster entrepreneurial solutions in their communities, based on the Lean Start-Up methodology.

National Youth Entrepreneurship Competition

Learner teams develop and submit business concepts that respond to community, social or environmental challenges. The competition gives learners a practical opportunity to apply what they have learned.

National Youth Entrepreneurship Bootcamp & Awards

Following adjudication, selected teams take part in workshops, mentorship and pitch preparation. The programme culminates in awards and opportunities for further support, including prizes such as bursaries, devices, seed funding and incubation, subject to the implementation year.

Step Up 2A Start Up Programme Goals

Step Up 2 A Start Up aims to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, stimulate innovative thinking, encourage responsible responses to environmental challenges and equip young people to see a wider range of pathways into economic activity.

Our program is driven by the following objectives:

  • Empower young people to shift from a fixed mindset (job seeker) to a growth mindset (job creator).
  • Encourage young people to see environmental challenges as new business opportunities.
  • Inspire the shift from making disposable products to producing reusable goods.
  • Utilize technology to enable the development of green businesses.
  • Foster critical and creative thinking, communication, and innovative problem-solving skills.
  • Develop resilience to face difficulties, allowing young people to fail, learn, and try again.
  • Encourage collaborative co-creation within teams.
  • Prioritize people and the planet over profit alone.
  • Encourage doing more and better with less while delivering value to customers and communities.

Help the Next Generation Become Job Creators

Support an established programme connecting entrepreneurship education, competition and practical opportunity for high-school learners.

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Targeted at high-school learners

In grade 9 - 12 from rural, township, peri-urban and urban communities across South Africa

Collaboration with public and private sector

To develop an SME pipeline at early stage, contributing to the NDP’s ambitions to have 90% of new jobs created by SMEs by 2030

Theoretical with strong hands-on elements

Through an edutainment film and toolkit with a practical competition, bootcamp and awards ceremony.

National Reach & Digitally Accessible

Footprint in all 9 provinces, with a digital platform zero-rated by Cell C

Our Sponsors

Step Up To Start Up