Siblings Caleb, 10, and Simeon de Greef, 12, secured the top spot with InventZA, a project focusing on proudly South African engineering boxes.
A new generation of young South Africans is demonstrating that confidence and resilience aren’t abstract concepts to be taught, but skills to be built through real-world experience. The 2026 Koa Academy Entrepreneurship Challenge has concluded, showcasing a group of students aged 10 to 14 who successfully navigated the complexities of business development, moving from initial concept to a fully realised pitch deck. The programme, which emphasises project-based learning, moves beyond traditional classroom theory. Instead of memorising answers, participants were tasked with navigating the setbacks and ambiguity inherent in the startup world.
Lauren Anderson, Co-founder and CEO of Koa Academy, noted that the objective was to foster skills increasingly demanded by employers for 2030, such as original thinking and the ability to tolerate ambiguity. "What sets our winners apart isn't just the quality of their business ideas; it's that they've proven to themselves that they can take an idea from nothing to a fully realised pitch, and trust their own thinking every step of the way," said Anderson.
