Can you create an entrepreneur?

In layman's terms the best way to understand what an entrepreneur is, is to consider the self-employed flower seller on the side of the road waiting for passing traffic to buy her flowers.

She only graduates from being self-employment to entrepreneur when she contacts all the hotels, wedding planners and funeral planners in her area to secure bulk contracts for supplying her flowers, and then looks to enter the export business of selling dried flowers to Europe or China, and takes a portion of her profits and invests it in something that will provide her passive income in time.

Governments, education departments around the world are paying far more attention to entrepreneurship education. It is being introduced into school curriculums and policy is being moulded around encouraging and promoting small business.

So what is the fuss all about? Do we even need entrepreneurs or an expanding small business sector? And are you not borne an entrepreneur, and surely you can't create them? It's something that happens naturally, isn't it?

Well if you look at what prestigious tertiary institutions have to say on the subject, like the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, it quite clearly identifies:

'One of the most important findings is that potential entrepreneurs lack the mindset and skills to become true entrepreneurs.' GEM South Africa, 2006.

Looking at this, it is quite interesting to consider that if you believe entrepreneurs do in fact create innovative solutions to solving problems both as intra-preneurs, inside large corporations, and through the small business sectors in terms of job creation and growing the economy in general; and if like me, you believe that we could do with a far more successful, dynamic small business sector in our country, steered by highly capable forward thinking entrepreneurs, and most importantly you agree that to create more successful entrepreneurs is through creating the necessary 'mindset and skills', then we have a major breakthrough!

I am not trying to simplify the wheel of creating more successful entrepreneurs, of which 'mindset and skills' are just two cogs - but just for a second allow yourself to dream. Just for a second, think of the possibilities of creating the correct mindset, like the flower seller, imagine if she understood her long-term goal.

If we were able to allow the creative juices to flow by implanting similar long-term goals in our young learners, where they understood the possibilities and had a clear idea of where they wanted to go, in simple terms. Isn't having the end point in mind half the battle won?

Then we just have to make sure the other cogs in the wheel such as skills, support and access to finance are provided. Imagine for a second this started at a Primary School age where not only are they learning the appropriate skills, but that they also understand, like the flower seller, where they want to get to.

Catch up soon....

Greg Bunyard

Western Province Prep School introduces Ka-Ching!

I am delighted to announce that Western Province Prep School, 'Wetpups', recently introduced the Ka-Ching! School's Programme to their prestigious school in Claremont, Cape Town, South Africa.

Mr Andre Goosen (HOD Technology) first contacted us at the end of last year to investigate introducing appropriate material that would improve their Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) learning experience. On 19th June this year, Jacqui Taylor (our curriculum advisor) and myself completed the hour and a half on-site train-the-trainer session. The teachers present were: Mr A Goosen; Mrs J Wilter; Mrs M Bold; Mr C Verdal-Austin; Mrs A Mc Naughton and Mrs B Johnson.

A lively discussion followed the training including the important aspect of 'parental involvement'. We look forward to meeting and talking to as many of the Wetpups parents to encourage their vital role in their children's EMS learning.

It is still early days with Ka-Ching! at Wetpups, but we look forward to supporting and working towards ensuring the best possible learning experience is achieved.

I look forward to the journey ahead!
Gregory Bunyard

Ka-Ching! Foundation and Ikamva Youth

The Ka-Ching! Foundation was approached by Ikamva youth with the following letter,

"It is thanks to generous support of our work in providing for the holiday programme that 150 disadvantaged youths from Khayelitsha and Nyanga are able to participate fully in supplementary tutoring, career guidance mentoring, life skills workshops, entrepreneurship education, computer literacy training, art workshops, documentary making and a photography project.

IkamvaYouth operates without core funding, and every person involved at every level of the organisation is a volunteer. It is only through donations that we are able to provide a quality service to disadvantaged youth, and enable them to realise their potential. Last year IkamvaYouth achieved a 90% pass rate, and 62% of last year's grade 12's are currently enrolled in tertiary education, and many have returned to the organisation as volunteers.

IkamvaYouth has an upcoming event with which we are hoping that you will be able to assist us. The July holidays are the last chance for learners to get some intensive studying done before the final exams. IkamvaYouth will be offering supplementary tutoring during the holidays, from 9am to 5pm. Offering lunch to our learners during this crucial time is imperative for ensuring that they are able to concentrate on their studies all day.

We would appreciate any contribution that may be beneficial to the programme.

Many thanks and kind regards,
IkamvaYouth

Some more about Ikamva:
IkamvaYouth is a by-youth, for-youth community-based non-profit organisation that drives social change in South Africa by enabling disadvantaged youth to access post-school opportunities in tertiary education and job-based training.

Based at the Nazeema Isaacs library in Makhaza, Khayelitsha, and the Nyanga library, we work with learners in grades 10 to 12.

The project is driven completely by the commitment, enthusiasm and creativity of the ikamvanites (volunteers and learners). Our volunteers are a diverse and amazing bunch: students from UCT, CPUT, UWC and Rosebank college, unemployed graduates, and young professionals working in NGOs, government and the private sector. Forty to fifty percent of our current volunteer base comprises ex-learners. This, together with our high success rate, is a striking indicator that our work is highly valued by our beneficiaries. It is owing to the great need for what we do and the fun we have doing it that Ikamva has been in existence since 2003 without funding."

Well it is early days, but I have been adding my five cents worth to the Ikamva cause. So far I am most impressed with the calibre of student I am talking to. They are impressive students - some of them want to study medicine, computer science, and land surveying. They are eager to learn, attentive and hungry for information.

I have only two sessions with each group over the next two weeks which seems hardly enough to cover the interesting subject of entrepreneurship. So what I am going to do is keep the feedback going by adding another string to the Ka-Ching! Blog and invite you and the students to stay in touch. I will add more pictures and anything interesting as it comes along.

Chat soon,
Gregory Bunyard