Teens with dreams are making a future

Fedoze Phipps runs a profitable jewellery design and manufacturing business. What sets her apart from the average entrepreneur is that she is 15 and works out of her mom's lounge.

She is among a growing number of teen entrepreneurs who are "embracing the mindset" of becoming job creators after they graduate.

Thanks to the spread of technology and entrepreneurial spirit, an increasing number of teens are running their own businesses, say experts.

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Fedoze, from Eldorado Park in Johannesburg, makes about R500 a week in profit. She could make more but her mother limits her orders so that she doesn't neglect her homework.    

While 60% of her profit is ploughed back into materials, 40% is put into a savings account that will help pay her university fees.

"People love my work," said Fedoze, who is in Grade 9 at Kliptown Secondary School.

"I make everything from chokers, bracelets, pearl earrings and necklaces, using glass and plastic beads."

Fedoze started her business after winning R2,500 in a school business competition two years ago, and displays some of her creations in her mom's spaza shop.

In Cape Town, the menswear label of high school friends Brandon Williams, Clive Maqetuka and Daniel Moleka has caught the eye of celebrities. One of their designs was recently worn by Congolese singer Fally Ipupa at the MTV Africa Music Awards.

Their office is Moleka's mother's garage, where they spend their free time designing and making T-shirts, ponchos and kimonos under the label RedThread Apparel X.

Their target clientele is aged between 15 and 23, and their garments sell for between R300 and R600.

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"Running our own business while still at high school is challenging," said Daniel, who is in matric.

"We have to constantly decide on questions like, do we spend the money to create a pop-up shop or do we invest in advertising or PR? Trying to figure out the most cost-effective way to spend each rand is important. It takes courage to create a business, but it can be very rewarding."

In Springs, several matric friends have put their business economics classes to good use by selling designer caps and T-shirts. Founder Elethu Ngandi said they called their label Hyperaktive, after two of them were labelled hyperactive by a teacher in primary school.

The Veritas College pupils plan to increase their monthly turnover of R2,000 by launching a tracksuit range next month. "We started off selling caps but our clients asked us if we can also make T-shirts for them," said Elethu. "Next month we will launch our tracksuits, because people want them."

Jenna Bischoff, 12, of Cape Town has also been bitten by the entrepreneur bug. Jenna, a Grade 5 pupil at Rustenburg Girls' Junior School, has launched a cosmetics and toiletries line, in a bid to help save rhinos.

She collaborated with her father, a manufacturer of toiletries and cosmetics, to produce a line of liquid soaps and hand lotions called jenna b.

Through online orders and selling at weekend markets with friends she has raised more than R40,000.

All profit is donated to the Unite Against Poaching organisation. "My goal is to raise over R1-million," she said.

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"I started this because I was sad to learn about what people were doing to the rhinos."

Business coach Marlene Powell said she had seen a growth in teen entrepreneurship recently.

"Unlike before, youngsters who are in business now are more confident and know what they want. They have a way of doing things that would have taken an old-school scholar ages, but with technology they are quicker."

Lydia Zingoni, founder and director of the South African Teen Entrepreneur Foundation, said teens needed to "embrace the mindset" of becoming job creators after they had graduated.

"The grim reality is that, out of 16million young learners who are currently at school, approximately nine million are unlikely to find work. We need to grow and develop young people who are entrepreneurially minded, and who will be able to support their families, and the community at large, through job creation."