The Empire Partner Foundation (EPF) in support of Young Aspiring Thinkers (YAT), hosted learners from Olievenhoutbosch Secondary school in a bring a girl child to work job shadowing programme at the EPF Hub Premises.
YAT is a non-profit organisation, which aims to provide South African high school learners with skills to unlock their future careers and tackle the youth unemployment challenge.
On Friday, (7 October 2022), 12 Grade 9 girls accompanied by two teachers and supported by Tebogo Kopane and Thulani Masebenza (YAT) on their job shadowing at the EPF Tech Hub.
The highlight of the day was a guided tour of the EPF Tech Hub.
Learners visited all the companies, interacted with other staff members and also had a chance to show their skills with computers and at the Innovation Campus.
In another development, the EPF hosted their 4th Tech Open Day in partnership with South African Local Government Association (SALGA).
The open day, on 30 September 2022, was a look-in to see how far the EPF Incubation hub teams have grown since they joined us.
“Some teams have been with us for over a year whilst some are still a few months in,” said EPF Coordinator Jasmine Mokwena, EPF spokesperson and hackathon coordinator.
“The objective was to see how far the incubation hub teams have come so that SALGA can identify the next steps of bringing in innovative solutions into the municipalities.
“SALGA has supported the foundation since the launch of our first hackathon in 2020 and we are grateful for their ongoing support.”
During the open day, teams from the EPF incubation hub along with two businesses from the EPF Tech Hub showcased their innovations to the SALGA operations team.
The Incubation hub teams presented their solutions focusing on youth unemployment, healthcare, and two teams focusing on SMME development.
Malcolm Mooi, the CEO of Zibuza, presented their Digital Education Platform, which links students, parents, and teachers, as well as their extensive collection of online early childhood development books, which are available in the 11 official languages.
The latest addition to the EPF Tech Hub ecosystem is Veza Interactive, a company that focuses on using Augmented reality within the education space.
The SALGA operations team said they were impressed with each incubation hub team that showcased the growth of their solutions and provided feedback on those products, including refining features approach and overall business development.
“For each of the presentations SALGA made commitments on supporting them through SALGA or by potentially piloting with municipalities,” said Mokwena.
“This falls in line with the partnership between EPF and SALGA We are honoured to work with SALGA in assisting the teams in the EPF incubation hub in bringing their tech solutions into the municipalities to make an impact in society.”
