The future calls – and South African entrepreneurs are answering

As South Africa marks 50 years since the 1976 Soweto Uprising under the national theme RESET@50: The Future Calls, the country is being asked to shift the narrative from seeing young people as just part of the unemployment problem to recognising them as potential solutions providers and co-creators of today and the future.

The call is to empower this generation by transferring leadership, not only stories, and to transform the future by advancing economic inclusion for all young people.

It is a call landing in a country where the need is real. Youth unemployment stands at 45.8%, according to Stats SA’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, and of the roughly 10.3 million young people aged 15–24, 37.6% are not in employment, education or training.

Entrepreneurs are where that gap gets closed, with the National Development Plan placing the responsibility of creating 90% of all jobs in South Africa on small to medium-sized enterprises by 2030.

A new generation of founders is rising to that challenge, using digital tools, artificial intelligence and alternative funding to build businesses that would have been out of reach a decade ago.

In light of this, one of South Africa’s most established entrepreneur recognition platforms is sharpening its focus on the founders driving that shift. The Business Partners Limited Entrepreneur of the Year® Awards, now in their 38th year, have spent nearly four decades finding, backing and amplifying the entrepreneurs building South Africa’s economy from the ground up. The initiative has consistently championed innovation, job creation and inclusive growth, and its alumni now span every major sector of the economy.

Against this backdrop, the 2026 edition opens for entries under the theme, “Generation Build: The entrepreneurs writing South Africa’s next chapter” – a theme deliberately aligned with the national call to put young, ambitious, solutions-driven founders at the centre of the country’s next 50 years.

“Entrepreneurship is where the government’s call meets practical action,” says Gugu Mjadu of Business Partners Limited. “A single viable business creates household income, keeps suppliers going and supports the local economy. Multiplied across thousands of founders, that is what turns RESET@50 from a national theme into lived reality.”

Two of the 2025 winners are under the age of 40, demonstrating what Generation Build looks like in practice. They include overall Entrepreneur of the Year® Aphiwe Khambule, chief operating officer of 21st Century Funeral Services, who is leading the second generation of a family business disrupting a R10-billion industry.

Also representing the under-40 cohort is Thatiso Dube of GALXBOY, Medium Business Entrepreneur of the Year®, awarded to businesses with turnover above R50 million. From humble beginnings selling T-shirts out of his car in 2008, Dube has grown GALXBOY into a thriving enterprise with 15 stores across eight provinces, employing more than 200 young South Africans – an impact that also earned him the Job Creator of the Year® award.

They are joined by a cohort whose stories show the breadth of what South African entrepreneurship looks like today.

Representing the older generation of entrepreneurs with bold new ideas are Professor Monique Zaahl, who is the 2025 Emerging Business Entrepreneur of the Year®, which recognises businesses operating for one to five years with turnover up to R10 million. Prof. Zaahl is growing GENEdiagnostics, a company addressing critical gaps in local genetic testing, at a 28% compound annual growth rate.

Hamilton Stephenson, meanwhile, has transformed a three-employee shell company into Technogrid, a manufacturer of industrial safety systems supplying BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Ford. He was awarded in the Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year® category, for businesses with turnover between R10 million and R50 million.

Tebogo Kale of Gravitas Minerals was recognised as Innovator of the Year® for pioneering mineral processing technologies that improve recovery rates while reducing environmental liability.

Each of the winners was selected from the year’s finalists, with the Job Creator, Innovator and Impact Entrepreneur of the Year® titles conferred at the judges’ discretion on finalists making outstanding contributions to employment, market innovation or social impact, respectively.

The 2026 winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October this year. They will share in award prizes designed to accelerate business growth, including cash awards, mentorship, technical assistance and business exposure opportunities.

“The future is calling, and South Africa’s entrepreneurs are already answering,” concludes Mjadu. “While they face many obstacles, they are the proof that economic ownership is possible, and that the next 50 years will be shaped by the people who innovate and choose to build in spite of it all.”

Entries for the 2026 Entrepreneur of the Year® Awards close on 2 August 2026. Enter now.