Times Of Swaziland: Kirsh Foundation splashes on youth entrepreneurship

Kirsh Foundation splashes on youth entrepreneurship
================================================================================
CASSANDRA SHAW on 18/03/2013 00:00:00


EZULWINI – Billionaire Nathan Kirsh has made a massive donation towards the
growth of youth entrepre-neurship in the country.
Through the Kirsh Foundation, the businessman, who made it to the recent Forbes
list of richest people in the world, donated about E450 000 (US$50 000) towards
the Junior Achievement programme which seeks to promote youth entrepreneurship.
This transpired during the annual JA Fund-raising gala dinner held on Friday at
the Royal Swazi Sun Convention Centre attended by Prime Minister Sibusiso
Dlamini, Cabinet ministers and representatives from various corporate
institutions.
Making the announcement was the evening’s Master of Ceremonies, businessman
Phumelele Motsa who, during the course of the programme, said some companies,
even though not represented on the night, formed part of the JA sponsors.
He said one of such companies was the Kirsh Foundation which made a donation of
close to half a million Emalangeni.
Motsa noted that the donation guaranteed further development of the JA programme
in the country, stating that this was much appreciated.
This is Kirsh’s second donation towards the programme after he pumped in a
similar amount last year.
Jean Mwenda, the JA Country Coordinator, noted that the donation was a
commitment of Kirsh’s belief in the potential of the country’s youth.
"Also, it shows that he has trust in the work done by JA, especially because
this is his second donation towards the same programme," Mwenda said.
She said she was of the view that Kirsh wanted to give the youth of the country
an opportunity to be better people.
"He believes that if the youth is given the right opportunities, they can
probably be like him in the future. We are sincerely grateful for this gesture
and hope he will continue doing it in future," she said.
The programme faced financial constraints in the past two years, resulting in
the winning team failing to compete regionally.
However, Mwenda believes that with the recent donation, it has put JA in a
better financial position to reach out to more schools.
"We request other successful entrepreneurs in the country to follow Kirsh’s
example and support JA’s work by either donating their time as mentors to the
young people or support financially," she added.
JA is an entrepreneurship programme targeting schools’ youth which gives them
practical skills of running a business where a management team is chosen by the
pupils within themselves.
The schools compete nationally for the championship and the winning school then
represents the country in a regional competition.
Swaziland, through Lusoti High School has won the regional competition.
... Kirsh coming to SD tomorrow
MBABANE — Swazi business mogul Nathan Kirsh, who recently made it into the
exclusive 10- figure Forbes Billionaires club,will be in the country tomorrow.
This was confirmed by Inhlanyelo Fund Executive Manager Wandile Kunene last week
Friday. He said the purpose of the visit was to hand over cheques to Inhlanyelo
Fund and the Junior Achievement Programme (JA) amo-ng other activities.
focuses
JA is a schools entrepreneurial programme that focuses on equipping in-school
youth with practical business lessons. As part of the programme, pupils compete
among themselves during an intense 11 week business programme, where they are
expected to fully adhere to all business principles.
According to the 2013 list of billionaires released a fortnight ago, Kirsh, who
is identified as a Swazi citizen in his profile on the Forbes website, is world
number 437 with a net worth of US$3.1billion (E24.8bn).
diverse
According to Forbes, Kirsh’s debut on the Forbes list of billionaires comes
after decades of quietly investing in a diverse set of business.
Kirsh, the man described as the quiet wholesale billionaire in Wall Street’s
backyard, has made great strides towards the sustainable development of the
country that include funding the Inhlanyelo Fund, which basically finances
business start-ups.
He has also funded the country’s high schools to ensure Swazi pupils were
computer literate.
Kirsh’s profile on the Forbes website makes reference to the fact that he cut
his teeth in business in 1958 when he founded a corn milling business in
Swaziland.
magnet
Furthermore, Forbes ranks Kirsh’s wealth above South African mine magnet and
owner of Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club, Patrice Motsepe, whose wealth is
placed at 490 with a net worth of US$2.9bn (E23.2 billion).
Forbes states that Kirsh’s main source of wealth comes from real estate.
Bloomberg Billionaires Index had stated that Kirsh is actually worth over E40
billion (US$5.1bn).
The Index states that Kirsh who is based in New York and heads up Jetro Holdings
controls 86 restaurant depots and 10 Jetro Cash and Carry stores.
-------------------------
COMMENTS:
- Gud man 2 b in d country n I wish 2 meet him 2 open my mind in business.
March 18, 2013, 8:28 am, Boykie Dlamini