UCL education continues in Africa with Citrus Saturday

Forty young people from Swaziland took the opportunity to show off their entrepreneurial talents on 4 July as they took part in Citrus Saturday, a UCL (University College London) initiative aimed at demonstrating the link between hard work, having fun and making money. Pupils from four schools in Mbabane and Manzini became entrepreneurs for a day, making and selling their own lemonade products at sites across the two cities. This marks the start of a summer of activity across six African countries.

In Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Kenya and Niger, charities, schools and other organisations will implement the programme into their work, continuing to bring UCL’s world-class entrepreneurship education to young people on two continents.

Saturday 4 July 2015 saw Citrus Saturday activities run in ten countries in Europe. The day started at UCL’s new business co-working space on Camley Street, BASE King’s Cross. The Swazi High Commissioner, Mrs. Dumsile Thandi Sukati was in attendance to celebrate UCL’s continuing partnership with Junior Achievement Swaziland.

Citrus Saturday, which is in its fifth year, is a hands-on education programme developed by UCL to provide an introduction to business for young people. Jack Wratten, Citrus Saturday Manager, said: “This year we helped 125 kids from 20 different London schools in our activities in London alone; there were many more across the UK and in other countries, including 6 countries in Africa.

“Citrus Saturday helps to fulfill the need for enterprise education in a fun and easy way, students directly learn skills not only valuable for entrepreneurs but for the entire workforce of tomorrow.”

Participation in the programme, which was established in 2011 by Timothy Barnes, Director of UCL Advances – UCL’s centre for entrepreneurship, has tripled since last year and aims to engage with 1 million school students by 2020.