South African citizens aged 18 to 35 who have a 100% youth-owned business, or would like to start one, can apply for the National Youth Development Agency’s (NYDA) grant or voucher programmes.
To receive funding from these programmes, entrepreneurs first have to complete one of the NYDA’s short, three- to six-day business management training courses, which include ‘Generate your Business Idea’, ‘Start your Business’ or ‘Improve your Business’.
The courses, accredited by the International Labour Organisation, focus on young entrepreneurs who are at promising and new stages of enterprise development, providing them with the skills, knowledge, values and attitudes needed to run a successful business.
The training is aimed at responding to young people’s market and business needs, providing skills that can assist them with business idea generation, start-up assistance, early development, growth and expansion. 
Kelebogile Sasa, who completed one of the courses, says it helped her to open and run her business, and taught her how to deal with clients and make sure her company’s books are always updated.
“It helped me to understand what business is. Receiving business training before receiving the grant is important because there’s no use running a business without a business background.
“If I didn’t receive the training, I don’t think I would be where I am right now because I didn’t know anything about business. Now I have all of the basic steps that I need to follow so that my business can be successful,” she adds.
In addition to business management training, young entrepreneurs whose business ideas qualify for the NYDA grant and voucher programmes, can also benefit from some of the agency’s non-financial support services, including mentorship, business consultancy services and market linkages.
For more information about the NYDA and its business management training, visit www.nyda.gov.za or your closest NYDA branch.
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