The University of the Western Cape (UWC) has partnered with Wear SA to help missing-middle students by hosting a fashion show and donating ticket sales to the Ikamva Lethu Student Bursary Fund.
It's also to celebrate entrepreneurship month. The missing-middle category are students whose parents or guardians can only afford to pay a portion of the required university fees.
August is the month in which universities host their programmes for Student Entrepreneurship Week (#SEW2018).
The theme is “student entrepreneurship - the best of both worlds” - and it is aimed at raising awareness of entrepreneurship as a career option and means to participate in the economy.
Together parties put out the call to students on campus to help them stage a fashion show. More than 200 people heeded the call and attended a two-day boot camp.
Now, 129 of them are unlocking their burgeoning entrepreneurial skills by learning the practical steps of event management and staging as well as matching budding designers with those who can stitch a dream together.
Their efforts are supported by an on-campus marketing team who are spreading the word that they are about to launch the ultimate fashion statement, AWEAR SA.
The fashion industry is alive with a raft of entrepreneurial possibilities and this is what motivated the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union to be a partner with the UWC’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, through the union’s Wear SA initiative.
None of the participants, who come from all year groups and study fields, have had experience in such an initiative and many had not met before.
They are working together to discover tomorrow’s hottest fashion labels, and they have a strong message for the youth - buy South African made clothing products and support your own country.
The AWEAR SA Fashion show will take place on the university campus on September 1.
The tickets to the show cost R50 each and are available at the UWC administration West Wing Building between 8am and 5pm or via email: [email protected] and [email protected]