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Kirsh Foundation splashes on youth entrepreneurship

18/03/2013 00:00:00 CASSANDRA SHAW

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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