Absa, Legend Barbershop and David Tlale Youth Academy (DTA) Join Forces to Empower Youth and Celebrate Creativity

Clement Motale, Interim Managing Executive: Corporate Citizenship at Absa Group, emphasised the importance of expanding inclusive entrepreneurial opportunities within the creative industries.

Motale explained: “This partnership with the David Tlale Youth Academy and the Legends Barber Academy is about unlocking the boundless potential of young creatives by equipping them with the skills, confidence and entrepreneurial tools required to turn talent into opportunity. We are ensuring that young people see themselves not only as designers, but as future business owners who can transform their communities through creativity.”

The Absa, David Tlale Academy and Legend Barbershop collaborations are integral to Absa’s broader and longstanding commitment to nurturing entrepreneurship across various sectors, age groups, and learning environments.

Absa has played a central role in cultivating entrepreneurial mindsets and guiding young people from school classrooms, to university lecture rooms, to township backrooms where many early ventures often begin. Some of the flagship national programmes include, but are not limited to:

• Youth African Entrepreneurs  Institute (YAEI)
• Universities South Africa (USAf) Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education Partnership (EDHE Innovation Challenge)
• She’s the NEXT programme for women entrepreneurs
• Junior Achievement South Africa, and
• Allan and Gill Grey Philanthropy Makers Academy

These initiatives collectively demonstrate Absa’s clarity of purpose: to empower entrepreneurs across industries, communities and every phase of the learning journey.

Motale reinforced this commitment by further explaining: “Entrepreneurship is for everyone. Whether a young person discovers their passion in a school classroom, a university lecture hall, a township backroom or a creative studio, our mission is to ensure they have the support to turn ideas into enterprises. Absa’s programmes are designed to open doors, build confidence and create economic possibilities across every corner of society.”

The expansion of its entrepreneurship support from grooming through Legends Barber, to fashion and textiles through the David Tlale Youth Academy, Absa is scaling its impact and ensuring that inclusion, industry diversification and youth economic participation remain central to its mission.

Through these programmes, participants will gain technical training, financial literacy exposure, entrepreneurial readiness and access to networks that support long-term sustainability.

With initiatives like these, Absa reaffirms its commitment to empowering Africa’s youth with the tools, skills and belief they need to shape the future of entrepreneurship, whether in business, technology, manufacturing, arts and culture or design.