After months of hard work, 80 Grade 10 and 11 entrepreneurs will put their AI-powered business ideas, and themselves, to the ultimate test at the Junior Achievement (JA) South Africa National Company of the Year Competition, competing for R100,000 in cash prizes.
Proving that big ideas don’t have an age limit, 80 Grade 10 and 11 learners from across South Africa will pitch their businesses at the JA South Africa National Company of the Year Competition, for a chance to win R100,000 in cash prizes and represent the country on the continental stage.
Presented in partnership with Absa Group, the national competition takes place from 30 September to 2 October 2026 at Garden Court OR Tambo in Johannesburg and is the culmination of the JA Company Program Plus journey, an experiential entrepreneurship programme that gives learners the opportunity to experience the lifecycle of a business while they are still at school.
From identifying a problem or opportunity and developing a business idea, learners go on to establish their companies, take on leadership and operational roles, develop and market their products or services, manage finances, engage with customers and work through the inevitable challenges of running a business.
“The Company Program Plus gives learners hands-on experience of what it actually takes to build and run a business. Ideas change, teams have to make difficult decisions, customers give feedback and things don’t always go according to plan. Learning how to respond to those moments is where learners build resilience, leadership, teamwork, financial discipline and the confidence to keep moving forward,” explains Nelo Spies, Executive Director of JA South Africa.
The competition comes at a time when nearly 4 million South Africans aged 15 to 24 are currently unemployed, and school leavers and graduates are entering a world of work that is rapidly changing thanks to artificial intelligence, automation and digital technologies.
It is against this backdrop that this year’s competition theme, Augmenting Innovation, challenges learners to explore how artificial intelligence can enhance creativity, strengthen business solutions and drive innovation with greater impact.
“Our education-to-employment systems have been designed for a very different economy, where traditional qualifications provided a clearer pathway into work. Today, young people are entering a very different world and preparing them for this new reality means giving them the digital capability, financial literacy, entrepreneurial thinking and confidence to adapt and keep learning,” adds Spies.
Reaching the national stage in Johannesburg is itself an achievement.
The 20 finalist businesses have progressed through provincial Company of the Year competitions to earn their place at the national event. Along the way, they have had to refine not only their businesses, but also their ability to communicate their ideas with confidence. At the JA South Africa Company of the Year Masterclass, finalists also met previous National COY winners and received guidance from coaches and mentors as they prepared for the next stage of their journey.
The entire process has produced an exciting range of businesses, including an AI-powered smart bin that rewards people for recycling correctly, an AI-powered virtual mirror that helps shoppers find the right clothing size online, and a smart walking cane that uses sensors, cameras and GPS to help people navigate safely.
But while AI is an important part of this year’s theme, the bigger story is how learners are using technology, creativity and entrepreneurial thinking to solve real problems.
“Instead of learning about entrepreneurship from a textbook, these learners are experiencing what it means to build something themselves. They have had to work as teams, make decisions, listen to customers, rethink ideas, market their products and keep going when something doesn’t work. By the time they reach National COY, we are seeing much more than a business idea. We can see how much the young people behind those businesses have grown,” says Bonga Khumalo, JA South Africa Programs Manager.
The Pitching Process
Pitch Day on 1 October will see teams take the stage to present their businesses to a panel of industry experts in a Shark Tank-style competition, unpacking the problems they are solving, explaining their business models and demonstrating how their ideas have evolved throughout the programme.
Their pitches will be followed by questions from the judging panel, putting their entrepreneurial thinking and ability to respond under pressure to the test. Learners will have to listen, think on their feet, defend their decisions and demonstrate that they understand the businesses they have built.
“Standing in front of experienced industry leaders and saying, ‘This is the problem we identified, this is what we built, this is what we learned and this is why our solution matters,’ requires enormous confidence from a young person,” says Spies. “They have to communicate clearly, think on their feet, defend their thinking and respond constructively to feedback. Whether they ultimately become entrepreneurs, employees or leaders in another field, those are skills that will stay with them long after the competition.”
National COY marks an important milestone in a much longer learning journey. By the time learners complete Company Program Plus, they will have experienced entrepreneurship from the first idea, through building and operating a business, to formally bringing that business cycle to a close. In the process, concepts such as leadership, marketing, financial literacy, teamwork, resilience and problem-solving become skills they have had to practise for themselves.
The competition will culminate in the Awards Ceremony on 2 October, when the country’s top three learner businesses will be recognised with monetary prizes of R50,000 for first place, R30,000 for second place and R20,000 for third place.
The first-place business will also earn the opportunity to represent South Africa at the JA Africa Company of the Year Competition in Cape Town from 2–4 December 2026, where young entrepreneurs from across the continent will compete for international recognition.
For more information about JA South Africa, please visit:
https://www.jasouthafrica.org/
