With the unemployment rate so high among South Africa’s youth at 38.2 percent it is good to see companies like Cognity Advisory trying to do their part to empower students with business and entrepreneurial skills.

To that end Cognity Advisory launched its Universities Business Challenge (UBC) in July this year. Thus far the UBC has seen 500 students from thirteen different universities in South Africa participating.

The competition is now down to 10 teams which make up 50 students from five different universities. The students will travel to Johannesburg to compete in a two-day final event which will be on held on 5th and 6th December. The teams are competing for a chance to win up to R50 000, and the winners will be announced shortly after the final event.

The competition aims to stimulate a business environment with students given a problem to solve. Said stimulation is designed to foster skills such as analytical thinking, problem solving skills, commercial awareness and team working, according to Cognity Advisory.

“Students are very prepared in terms of theory when they leave university, but not the practical skills they need to start and run a business. Seeing that SMEs make up 90 percent of formal businesses, it’s really important that these students know how to build a business on their own or the very least in small teams,” development advisor and CEO of Cognity Advisory, Tope Toogun explains in a press statement.

“The students competing in the challenge learn about managing people, customer service, working in teams and how to create a start-up without even realising the are being exposed to all these skills. These are the skills that will separate the members in the final, students must work as a team and make instinctive decisions,” he concludes.

[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]