The DBE, in collaboration with the European Union's Education for Employability (E4E) Programme, hosted the inaugural Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship Education at Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre from 9 to 11 June 2025. This significant event marked the start of a multi-year national endeavour to establish South Africa’s first national policy on entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial readiness and support systems. During the three-day dialogue, crucial stakeholders from government departments; civil society; educational institutions; the private sector; teacher unions; youth organisations; and learners and teachers convened to tackle essential questions about equipping young South Africans to thrive in an unpredictable future.

Minister of Basic Education, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, delivered her keynote address during the official opening, acknowledging cross-sectoral departmental participation in the Dialogue to strengthen entrepreneurship education in schools. “The South African education system carries the heavy responsibility of preparing young people not only for the world as it is, but for the world it is becoming. The challenge before us is as profound, as it is urgent. We are a nation where 74% of working-age young people are unemployed. These numbers are staggering, but more sobering is the realisation that behind each number is a life, a family and a community held back by the structural constraints of our past and the limitations of our present. The dialogue is not a side conversation about optional add-ons to the curriculum”.

Ms Sandra Kramer, EU Ambassador to South Africa, offered an international perspective on youth entrepreneurship education, underlining the EU’s long-standing commitment to entrepreneurship education and referencing the EU’s Entrepreneurship Competence Framework and its emphasis on mind-set development over simple business training. “We support entrepreneurship with what we call 360 support from mobile skill vans to small businesses financing, in partnership with multiple South African departments”.

Technical assistance team leader for the EU’s E4E Programme, Mr Andreas Schott, presented the Education for Employability Programme’s strategy for supporting educational transformation. He traced the initiative’s evolution from its 2018 inception to its current pilot projects with the Basic Education, Higher Education and Employment and Labour Departments. In Phase 2, launched in 2023, the DBE focused on institutionalising career development and entrepreneurship in schools. Mr Schott emphasised that interdepartmental collaboration remained critical to youth employability, especially for learners with disabilities and those from under-resourced schools: “It’s not only about teaching skills, but about reforming the entire education-labour pipeline”.

The insights garnered from the Dialogue will contribute to the development of a dynamic framework for entrepreneurship learning and development, serving as a guiding document for policy formulation, provincial dialogues and ongoing collaboration over the next four years. The dialogue is more than just policy development; it’s about forming collaborative relationships and building a shared understanding, crucial for assisting young South Africans in creating prosperous futures for themselves and their communities.