EntreprenHeroes
- Seeking Funding
The South African Institute for Entrepreneurship already operates to provide financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills development in various settings in South Africa – including in schools, skills training organisations, CBOs, NGOs and other higher education and training institutions. However, the SAIE has been approached by various organisations to provide a broader leadership excellence, entrepreneurship & business skills development training programme to complement up to three year long curricula designed to take youth progressively through the acquisition of vocational skills in such a way that they also have the leadership skills, entrepreneurial mindset and financial / business management abilities to manifest these skills in increased employability or self-employment. The Institute plans to develop and provide a complete toolbox of elements which will promote sustained internal qualities in youth – such as self-esteem, confidence, a willingness to try and an ability to take initiative and take the lead.
This learning programme will therefore incorporate within it all aspects of life skills, leadership development, civic participation, excellence, entrepreneurship and business training in order to facilitate a new breed of positive, optimistic and entrepreneurial youth, youth who are optimistic, engaged, keen to contribute to civil society and able to participate in the formal economy. These youth will be the EntreprenHeroes of the future South Africa.
The EntreprenHeroes programme will provide a youth-oriented learning environment that is exciting, energetic, competitive and compassionate – qualities that add value to the discovery learning and leadership development process. This experiential methodology is an enormously powerful learning tool that will challenge young people with an infectious impetus to “give business a go” for themselves. Although available in modular form (with core compulsory modules in each level), the learning points will build on each other and be continually reinforced through action learning in each successive module. In this way the training experience will develop proficiency, grow financial literacy, knowledge and understanding and enable youth to make confident, informed decisions about their futures. In addition to teaching a wealth of business-specific skills, EntreprenHeroes will very successfully emphasise important life-skills such as teamwork, communication, organisation, negotiation and compromise.
The objective of the EntreprenHeroes programme will be to shift participants from non-entrepreneurial attitudes towards energetic, entrepreneurial attitudes.
In order to achieve attitudinal change, the EntreprenHeroes programme will adopt a range of methodologies to address motivation, skills and attitudes and each will be the primary focus of the three Certificate levels of training.
Each level will challenge participants to undertake entrepreneurial motivation projects, skills projects, and leadership and excellence projects.
