At the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa President Zuma and the Chairperson of the Mara Foundation, Ashish Thakkar, discussed the innovative Mara Mentor online Mentoring Platform that will provide mentorships to young South African entrepreneurs.
The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) will partner with the Mara Foundation to run the online mentorship scheme.
The mentorship platform will be officially launched on 16 June 2015 and will mentor the youth over a web platform as well as on mobile applications. Youth will be able to seek advice on business issues from leading businessmen, the Presidency said.
At the June 16 National Youth Day celebrations at the Tshwane Events Centre in Pretoria, youth can gain further insight into Mara E-Mentoring and sign up.
“Top business leaders in South Africa including Chairpersons and CEOs of companies are already being asked to sign up as mentors for the South African youth to be able to provide them with support. The youth will be able to register as mentees at one of NYDA’s 14 offices countrywide.”
Mara Mentor has been successfully launched in six African countries to date. The e-platform has over 600,000 active entrepreneurs across 30 African countries that young people can interact with.
Brand SA Chairperson Chichi Maponya said: “We believe that it has the potential to empower thousands of young people who want to start up businesses or who are already in business.
It also provides an opportunity for business leaders in the country to plough back by supporting youth development and empowerment.”
