9-11 June 2025 | Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre

The Department of Basic Education, in partnership with the European Union’s Education for Employability Programme, successfully convened the first-ever national Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship Education. This groundbreaking three-day event brought together over 250 diverse stakeholders including government officials, educators, youth representatives, civil society, and private sector partners.

The dialogue focused on co-creating a national entrepreneurship education policy framework, addressing the urgent need to equip South African youth with entrepreneurial mindsets and skills for a rapidly changing world. Minister Siviwe Gwarube opened the event, emphasizing that “entrepreneurship is not just a privilege of the few, but the possibility of the many.”

Key insights emerged around embedding entrepreneurship across all subjects and grades, supporting teacher development, ensuring youth voice in policy-making, and building systematic alignment across government departments. The event featured innovative generative dialogue methodology, youth panels, and interactive sessions exploring the knowledge, values, skills, and cross-cutting priorities essential to entrepreneurial education.