enke: Make Your Mark

Rufaro is the CEO of enke: Make your Mark, which strives to equip young people with an entrepreneurial mindset by giving them relevant skills while cultivating the belief that they are capable of changing their own lives. More than 3,000 young people in South Africa have benefitted from the programmes coordinated by enke to date.

The flagship Trailblazer Programme works with high schoolers to help them develop and create a social action project in their local community. Young people aged 15-20 work in groups to develop a community action plan to implement the change they wish to see. Enke works with these groups of young people for a period of nine months, helping them from ideation to implementation. Almost 50% of Trailblazer projects continue for at least a year after the programme, with each project typically impacting 50 people in the local community. Ignition is a programme that works with young people aged 18-30, training them to become mentors for the Trailblazer Programme. Ignition participants learn how to run training sessions and gain experience working with young people, furthering their employability skills and benefitting from access to the enke: Make Your Mark network. The Catalyst Programme works with 18-35 year olds Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) to help develop their skills so they can effectively re-engage with the economy. Catalyst gives young people taster experiences in education, employment and training to enable them to make better choices about their future. The programme works with young people to develop their self-belief and confidence to be successful in their efforts to join formal work or training, or to start their own businesses. enke: Make your Mark has found that 74% of Catalyst participants have placed themselves in some kind of economic activity by the end of the programme. These three projects aim to develop the leadership potential and entrepreneurial spirit of young people in South Africa.

Read the enke 2017-18 Annual Report