The City of Cape Town welcomed the participants of the ninth edition of the annual #YouthStartCT Entrepreneurial Challenge on Tuesday night. The 2025 challenge was opened by the Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Services and Health – Councillor Francine Higham.
Higham welcomed the 67 young entrepreneurs who will compete over six weeks in five categories comprising of agriculture and farming, information technology, finance and business services, tourism and manufacturing.
The #YouthStartCT challenge encourages young people between the ages of 18 and 35 to submit their existing businesses, which already creates employment opportunities for youth, or business ideas, which include employment opportunities for young people.
Considering this, Councillor Francine Higham said that the #YouthStartCT challenge is an example of the commitment by the City of Cape Town to uplift the communities by empowering the young business leaders.
According to Higham, this is an opportunity for them to grow their businesses and employ more people. It is organised every year to turn these young entrepreneurs into businessmen, and help them to address the huge challenges of unemployment and poverty.
“We wish all participants the Best of Luck,” added Councillor Francine Higham.
Moreover, training sessions are also arranged, that are held during the ongoing programme. The training sessions will be provided to the participants to improve their pitch presentations and assist them through each elimination round.
This year, in 2025, more applications were received for new business ideas, especially the local and regional ones with the majority falling within the Business or Finance sector. The training sessions for the duration of the competition will be provided by the Entreprenacity.
Also, the highest number of applications were received from youth residing in Khayelitsha. Partners from the City of Cape Town who are supporting the competition includes Workshop17, ORTSA, The V&A Waterfront, False Bay College and Silulo Foundation. Mark the date, as the prizes will be awarded to the winners at a ceremony on June 11, 2025.