Articles
Learning to ride the entrepreneurship bicycle in the classroom
Entrepreneurship is recognised as a driving force for growth and success. But if we understand it to be a mindset, an ethos, how can we teach people to be entrepreneurs, and what are the positive outcomes of so doing? Margie Worthington-Smith, MD of the South African Institute for Entrepreneurship, presents a refreshing philosophy...
ENTREPRENEURSHIP – a national cross-cutting imperative – October 2003
Entrepreneurship cuts across all sectors and all subjects. It is a value system, a life skill. It should be given the status of a critical national imperative! Resources should be poured into the establishment and support of intrapreneurs in institutions and entrepreneurs creating jobs.
Visioning our own entrepreneurial future
It is 2015, and...
SAIE is financially prosperous, with substantial reserves and sustainable income streams. It has 4visions focused on the key areas of Research &Development; Marketing; Service and Training; and International Outreach. The international division...
Recording impact change on entrepreneurial mindset of learners
The validity of experimental methods and quantitative measurements, appropriately used, has never been in doubt. Within the last decade, qualitative methods have ascended to a level of parallel respectability. The field of evaluation has come to recognise that that, where possible, using multiple methods, both quantitative and qualitative, can be valuable since each has strengths and one approach can often overcome the weakness of another.
Losing the entrepreneurship battle
It seems that education is the key determinant of a country's future entrepreneurial capacity. In other words, boosting entrepreneurial capacity depends on how well our education system equips young people to start their own businesses.
But it's not just about degrees and diplomas.
Baking the entrepreneurship cake
Entrepreneurs become that way, because they get things going by constantly sniffing out opportunities with an insatiable curiosity, vision and passion.
Unfortunately, entrepreneurship is regarded as a somewhat mystical attribute that only taints a lucky few.
Enterprise development - NPO View
The enterprise development sector is often seen as the panacea to South Africa’s job creation woes. But if this sector is to succeed in enhancing economic inclusion, serious attention must be paid to creating an enabling environment which supports emerging entrepreneurs. The South African Institute for Entrepreneurship (SAIE), a leading enterprise development NPO, believes that the key to success is to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset, especially among the country’s youth...
A Positive Entrepreneurial Environment
“A positive entrepreneurial environment is …dependent on a system which effectively balances government and private sector needs and interventions. Only within such a stable and positively geared environment will entrepreneurship come into its own. Internationally and nationally, it is the time for entrepreneurship.” GEM 2007...
Evaluation and Learning
SAIE has always been committed to evaluating its work, independent of stakeholder accountability issues, because of its interest in learning and improving practice...
The Age of Entrepreneurship
“It is accepted that the world is experiencing an entrepreneurial age, which is characterized by factors such as accelerated innovation and the commercialization threat at a faster rate, companies scaling down in order to be more competitive, and more emphasis on project-driven approaches. One can therefore assume that more must be done to ensure that the youth is employable and can start their own businesses.” GEM 2007....
South African Institute for Entrepreneurship – Brief Comment
SAIE’s recent Annual Report presents the continued work of SAIE for 2007/8 with its vision of a dynamic culture of entrepreneurship in South Africa that promotes a positive mindset in youth and adults and assists in the eradication of poverty through the creation of effective entrepreneurs. The continued purpose is to develop innovative materials that utilize original, creative methodologies; and to train educators, trainers and community-based organizations to convey business skills, uncover entrepreneurship qualities and promote entrepreneurship as a strategy to mitigate poverty, unemployment and historical disadvantage...
New tools for educators
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish and you feed him for life"
Sasol Secunda Corporate Social Investment recently announced its partnership with the South African Institute for Entrepreneurship in a bid to teach both educators and learners to fish.
SAIE's Learning Philosophy
Since we develop learning materials, you would think that we’re passionate about teaching. But you’d be wrong. We’re not passionate about teaching. We’re passionate about learning. And this subtle shift in focus from teaching to learning is what really defines our educational philosophy.
Let’s develop entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship is regarded as “a way of thinking, reasoning and acting that is opportunity oriented, holistic in approach and leadership” (Timmons,1999). It is a way of thinking apparently less common to South Africans than to individuals in most other developing and many developed countries.
The results of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey...
South Africa : Alive with possibility?
That South Africa post 1994 is a country alive with possibility is indisputable. That it is also a country lacking in sufficient numbers of entrepreneurially minded individuals is, unfortunately, equally so...
Farming Entrepreneurially
The lessons are practical and experientially learnable. After going through the one-week AgriPlanner course devise by the South African Institute for Entrepreneurship, groups of growers have had their visionof how agriculture works transformed. They have shifted from wait and see to plan and produce and the changes are dramatic. the light bulb has flashed on and there is no turning back now.
Training trainers for the Agricultural Sector
“The times they are a’changing,” sings the well known song and certainly the training and learning needs in the Agricultural sector are in the midst of a changing environment. No longer is it enough for extension officers to go around and visit and offer their suggestions as to how to improve this or that, or suggest trying some new method, crop or variety.
The social return on the Agriplanner programme
The idea of a ‘social profit’ is rooted in the premise of performance-based social investment. Under this paradigm, the work of “non profit organisations”, which is dedicated to achieving a social change agenda, far from being “not profitable” is of extreme social importance – and the “return” they generate on the donors funds they use should be viewed as a social profit.
