All About Us
Vision
The South African Institute for Entrepreneurship has a 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 and enterprises.
Purpose
The SAIE develops innovative materials that utilize original, creative methodologies; and trains educators, trainers and community-based organisations to convey business skills, uncover entrepreneurship qualities and ensure sustainable economic development and wealth creation.
Organisational Aims
- To develop in individuals the capacity to identify business opportunities based on their skills, their opportunities, their natural resources, their network of contacts, their favourite activities, the places they know well etc.
- To enable individuals to discover the impact of various business decisions and provide a life-like experience of the repercussions of allocating capital, including discovering the affects of good or poor investments.
- To empower individuals to prepare for the management of an effective, dynamic and sustainable business based on their innovative and entrepreneurial ideas including to prepare for unplanned expenses, understand and be alert to the dangers of selling on credit, have the opportunity to practise selling and negotiating, write simple business plans, do break-even calculations and draw up simple cash flow statements, income statements and balance sheets describing a business (simulation) that they have experienced first-hand.
- To facilitate poverty eradication through the development of entrepreneurs and effective, profitable business enterprises.
Background Information:
The South African Institute for Entrepreneurship (SAIE) is a not-for-profit, Section 21 NGO which has Section 18a status. SAIE was constituted with a Memorandum and Articles of Association in 1996 and is governed by a Board of Directors.
History
The Institute was born out of the Triple Trust Organisation (TTO) in 1996 in recognition of the critical need for easily accessible financial literacy training materials for both the small enterprise sector and for schools. The Triple Trust Organisation was itself established in 1988 as a job creation and skills training NGO committed to the social and economic upliftment of South Africa’s disadvantaged, mostly uneducated and unskilled populace.
Since TTO was primarily serving those individuals who had little or no education, there was a need to find appropriate methodologies to convey complete financial and business concepts through experiential and discovery learning. As a result, a simulation “game”, the “Best Game” (Business Expenses Savings Training) was developed. In 1994, the ILO approached TTO with a view to establishing a partnership that would enable them to utilise the BEST Game internationally. The partnership was finalised in 1995 and resulted in additional training modules being developed in order to expand the reach of the materials to other settings and participants, particularly to youth and school-going learners.
In 1996 TTO established a separate training development arm to focus on creating and testing similar and related entrepreneurial business development training tools and materials using these methodologies. So the South African Institute for Entrepreneurship (SAIE) was born.
Since its inception SAIE has grown from a two-person organisation to one with a staff of 13 people. Using BEST Game as the initial program, many programs have been developed over the years.
Best Game
The BEST Game has been translated into over 18 languages and has been used all across South Africa’s 9 provinces and by 70 organisations around the world from Singapore to Kazakhstan to Brazil. BEST Game aims to convey the principles of running a business to people who are not functionally literate. But, it has also been used in more formal business training settings. For example by TSiBA Education who has used the BEST Game as part of their entrepreneurship curriculum. The BEST Game has also been used across Africa by HopeHIV and other charity funded organisations.
Business Ventures
SAIE has also received significant acclaim for the development of its schools entrepreneurship program, which was developed in 1996. The BusinessVENTURES system is a holistic solution to educator development because it proceeds from two complementary starting points: (1) good learning materials without development training will not transform the educator; and (2) yet educator development training without good learning materials will not deliver effective and efficient learning in the 21st century. The program has been developed for Grade 2 to 12 pupils and has been translated into Afrikaans, Xhosa and Zulu. Thus far, more than 16085 Educators have been trained in all 9 provinces of South Africa. These are some of the comments from the educators who have used the program:
- "It’s outstanding!"
- "It’s creative!"
- Learners change, they learn to come forward with their own ideas, they take risks in their thinking."
- "The materials are easy to follow and will make learners think."
- "In a nutshell the program is user friendly and very interesting."
- "The materials are easy to follow and make learners think."
- "The program has been of great help to the educators."
- "This program is a stimulating way to acquire information."
- "We have worked very well. It was so encouraging to every one that was in a team."
Agri Planner
Kofi Annan once stated that: “The path to prosperity in Africa begins in the fields of Africa’s small-scale farmers, with a dramatic sustainable revolution in agriculture”. And it is with this philosophy that SAIE’s AgriPlanner was born and has been such a success. In July 2004, SAIE began to develop its agri-business suite of programs to convert farmers from a subsistence mindset to regarding their plot of land as the foundation for their own agri-business. Rural, small-scale farmers speak of now being able to feed their families, to support nearby schools and clinics, and to earn revenues by selling to the community and even to the local supermarket. SAIE has gone on to partner with organisations such as Abalimi, Siyakhana, SCAT, Siyazisiza in South Africa (to name only a few) and the program has also been used across Africa from Tanzania to Zimbabwe.
Welcome World
SAIE has also gone on to produce a program that specifically deals with developing South Africans’ confidence in dealing with tourists. This program has only been used in the Western Cape by Organisations such as Cape Town Tourism but it has received praise for its user-friendly and creative methods. Welcome World is a highly interactive role-playing simulation style game that benefits learners with a great depth of experience on how to interact positively and effectively with tourists.
Entreprenometer
Having developed all these programs, SAIE felt it vital to develop a method in which to measure the impact of its programs. Thus, Entreprenometer was born and uses questionnaires, video recordings and interviews in order to establish participants’ entrepreneurial qualities pre and post contact with SAIE’s programs.
To learn more about SAIEs projects, please use our “Project Search” tool on the upper, left hand side of the page.
The South African Institute for Entrepreneurship:
In 1996 the SAIE was established as an independent registered Section 21 Non Profit Organisation. Between 1996 and 2009, the SAIE established various other partnerships with licensees in the Philippines, Brazil, and the United States to market and implement its programmes worldwide. Through these activities, the SAIE’s products are now used in 75 countries and have been culturally adapted and translated into 18 languages.
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Date of Establishment | 1996 |
| Section 21 Company Registration Number | Reg. No. 96/14654/08 |
| NPO Registration Number | 025-099-NPO |
| PBO Registration Number | 025-099-NPO |
| TEU Reference | 930011877 |
| Staff | |
|---|---|
| Rob Stead | Chief Executive Officer |
| Ishmael Vayej | Chief Operating Officer |
| Ernest Boateng | Operations Manager |
| Trevor Bagley | Senior Project Manager |
| Gavin Leverton | Senior Project Manager |
| Zukile Malusi | Senior Project Manager |
| Sharon Lagorie | Administration Manager |
| Iris Bavu | Receptionist |
| Johannes Kutumane | Driver |
| René Claassen | Information Management and Research Officer |
| Mareldia Dollie | Assistant Administrator |
| Valene Stynder | Graphic Designer/Administrator |
| Board Members |
|---|
| Luna Ntsume |
| Adam Essa |
| Michael Morris |
| Margie Worthington-Smith |
| Diversity Table | Black Female | Black Male | White Female | White Male | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Board of Directors | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Staff | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
