In celebration of the launch of the new Entrepreneurship Development Centre in Daveyton, Johannesburg, The Cross Trainer has donated five Lenovo laptops, to help the community’s youth achieve their ambition of becoming tomorrow’s business leaders.

"As a sports fashion retailer, South Africa’s youth are at the very heart of our business. We are fully dedicated to helping young people realise their dreams and goals, and to support the needs of the local communities whom we serve,” notes Nick Rheeder, Chief Marketing Officer of The Cross Trainer.

“The centre’s opening is extremely exciting for the entire Ekurhuleni region, especially in light of the significant employment challenges currently facing the country’s youth. We really admire their vision and are very proud to be able to support them in their endeavours.”

Founded by Sibongile Dladla, Nondumiso Dube, and Bongani Dube, the centre officially launched earlier in February this year. As part of the non-profit organisation Purposeful Life, its mission is to guide youth up to the age of 35 years in their career journeys and to foster the next generation of local entrepreneurs.

The centre will provide community members with access to skills development training, and a professional workspace environment with free Wi-Fi to launch new ventures, as well as a boardroom for business meetings. Skills development training will be based on three programme pillars including entrepreneurial programmes, technology programmes, and school programmes offering career guidance and mentorship.                                                                            

Entrepreneurship programmes will kickstart on 28 February 2022, offering courses in launching a new business, business ethics, and how to grow businesses. The centre’s technology programmes will then commence on the 4th of April, offering training in technopreneurship, Microsoft digital literacy and Internet-of-Thing’s.

In future, they are still looking for partners, who will help them to provide, cyber security, robotics, coding, networking, and data mining for the youth of Ekurhuleni. 

“As an organisation, we are committed to walking the entire journey with local entrepreneurs, and to helping youth discover their passion and their purpose,” notes Sibongile Dladla, a co-founder of the Entrepreneurship Development Centre.

“We are so grateful to The Cross Trainer for their generous donation, which will help visitors to our centre do research, create CVs, complete career assessments, access online training, and more. Having the right tools and support at their disposal will be life-changing for many young people, and this donation will make a meaningful difference to many local community members,” she says.

The Cross Trainer CEO Mark Frame adds, “As a company, we stand by our conviction that we should be fully immersed in the communities around us. We are pleased to be able to lend a helping hand to those in need, especially for this type of initiative with the potential to forge new career paths and opportunities for the next generation.”

“It’s a privilege to play even a small role in the larger story of future entrepreneurs and business leaders, and we look forward to seeing what lies ahead for the centre.”