UNDER the national theme RESET@50: The Future Calls, the country is being asked to shift the narrative from seeing young people as just part of the unemployment problem to recognising them as potential solutions providers and co-creators of today and the future. The call is to empower this generation by transferring leadership, not only stories, and to transform the future by advancing economic inclusion for all young people.
The need is real. Youth unemployment stands at 45.8%, according to Stats SA’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, and of the roughly 10.3 million young people aged 15 to 24, 37.6% are not in employment, education or training.
According to Business Partners Limited, entrepreneurs are where that gap gets closed, with the National Development Plan placing the responsibility of creating 90% of all jobs in South Africa on Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) by 2030. A new generation of founders is rising to that challenge, using digital tools, AI and alternative funding to build businesses that would have been out of reach a decade ago.
In light of this, one of South Africa’s most established entrepreneur recognition platforms is sharpening its focus on the founders driving that shift. The Business Partners Limited Entrepreneur of the Year® Awards, now in their 38th year, have spent nearly four decades finding, backing and amplifying the entrepreneurs building South Africa’s economy from the ground up. The initiative has consistently championed innovation, job creation and inclusive growth, with its alumni now spanning every major sector of the economy.
Against this backdrop, the 2026 edition opens for entries under the theme Generation Build: The entrepreneurs writing South Africa’s next chapter – a theme deliberately aligned with the national call to put young, ambitious, solutions-driven founders at the centre of the country’s next 50 years.
“Entrepreneurship is where government’s call meets practical action,” says Gugu Mjadu of Business Partners Limited. “A single viable business creates household income, keeps suppliers going, and supports the local economy. Multiplied across thousands of founders, which is what turns RESET@50 from a national theme into lived reality.”
