Electronics repair programme empowers youth and women

The Technology Station in Electronics (TSE) at TUT has empowered 89 youth and women from Mabopane, Pretoria, through a smartphone repair and entrepreneurship programme, boosting employability.

Participants in Mabopane, Pretoria, gained practical smartphone repair skills to create opportunities within their communities. The programme, offered by TSE at the Tshwane University of Technology, focuses on youth and women and combines smartphone repair skills with entrepreneurship development, aiming to improve employability and enable participants to start sustainable micro-enterprises in their communities.

The initiative comes at a time when South Africa’s labour market remains under pressure. Statistics South Africa reported an official unemployment rate of 31.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025, while youth unemployment (15–34) stood at 43.8%.

Funded by the Technology Innovation Agency, the training focused on practical, hands-on capability in smartphone repairs. Technical training conducted during February was followed by entrepreneurship training in the first week of March. Participants received intensive instruction in diagnosing common phone faults, safely dismantling devices, replacing components, reassembling units and performing final functional tests - skills aligned to immediate service opportunities in local communities.

To strengthen the pathway from technical competence to income generation, the programme also included an entrepreneurship component delivered by TUT’s Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED). This covered key small-business fundamentals, including business setup, goal setting, market analysis, value chains and other essentials for establishing and managing a community-based service business.

Sello Baloyi, Manager of the Mabopane Skills Centre of the City of Tshwane, welcomed the outcomes and the balanced approach followed by the training team.

“I commend the TSE team for delivering a training programme that successfully balances theory and practical application. The inclusion of entrepreneurship development is particularly impressive, as it equips participants with the skills to start and sustain their own businesses,” he said.

The TSE supports TUT’s institutional strategic plan to build an entrepreneurial university and strengthen community impact by developing individuals who can become employment creators while expanding access to practical services within townships.