Nationally, 20 JA South Africa Entrepreneurship Academy Programme learners from 10 high schools were selected as finalists of the Young Movers Competition, which is sponsored by Transnet.

The students attended Design Clinic sessions for two days in October 2017, hosted by the SABS Design Institute in Pretoria. Then they presented their innovative ideas to a panel of judges and three winners were chosen.

Sthandiwe Mnqayi from ML Sultan in Stanger, KwaZulu-Natal, received first prize for her Up-Lift wheelchair, which uses hydraulics to allow disabled people to access higher items. Her schoolmate Landiwe Nyamo was also recognised for her outstanding presentation of an App that assists students with correcting their English grammar.

Second prize went to Oyama Gola from Vulamazibuko Secondary School in the Eastern Cape for her idea for a solar-powered interactive scanner that attaches to shopping trolleys, which includes a calculator for consumers to tally the cost of their groceries, as well as a video game.

Mangale Lebeko from Emang Mmogo in the Northern Cape received third prize for his solar-powered cooker that stores energy for later consumption.

The competition – a joint initiative between Transnet, SABS Design Institute and JA South Africa – is aimed at building a culture of design, innovation and entrepreneurship amongst high school learners.

JA South Africa MD Nelly Mofokeng commented: “Nurturing entrepreneurial thinking at an early age and applying design thinking methods to encourage young people to come up with innovative ideas is yielding exciting results. Our experiential programmes run throughout the year and cultivate a culture of possibility seekers and opportunity creators than job seekers.”