SAIE - Organisational Profile

SAIE Organisational Profile

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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) 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 its beginning TTO has trained more than 40,000 people in the Eastern and Western Cape and has supported the establishment of numerous small businesses. Early in its work, TTO recognised the need for basic business acumen training to support participants in its skills training programmes. This resulted in the development of what was then known as the “Township MBA” This programme was extremely successful. However, it was limited in its accessibility as participants in the training had to be literate and able to understand the complex financial concepts in written form. 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 and a number of years later 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.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

The SAIE was established as an independent registered Section 21 Non Profit Organisation in 1996. The initial focus was to provide training materials for illiterate or semi-literate adults using the Best Game Simulation Tool as its core. This provides an interactive and intensive work-out in which participants learn basic business management principles by running a virtual venture in the training room. The Business Simulation consists of four modules viz. Profiting from a Home Business; Supply and Demand; Reaching your customer; Consolidation. The learning points build incrementally on each other and are continually reinforced with the running of each module. In addition to teaching a wealth of business-specific skills, the BEST Game is also very successful in emphasising important life-skills such as teamwork, the essential elements of good communication, organisation, negotiation and compromise.

In 1994, the ILO approached the Institute 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. Between 1996 and 2000, SAIE established additional partnerships with licensees in the Philippines, Brazil, and United States to market and implement the SAIE’s 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.

One of the most exciting developments arising out of this expansion and success was the development of entrepreneurial business development training tools for schools – known as the BusinessVENTURES programme. BusinessVENTURES offers learners from Grades 2 to 12 the opportunity to engage in activities that capture their attention, stimulate their imagination and their interest in business whilst assisting them develop entrepreneurial attitudes, habits and skills. As a creative simulation tool, the programmes also enable participants to discover the ideas within themselves. The repeated exposure to the programme in each grade assists learners gain an in-depth understanding of the concepts, achieved by doing, which is the very basis of Outcomes Based Education. Each BusinessVENTURES programme includes all the Learning Outcomes for the Economic and Management Sciences Learning Area of the new South Africa school curriculum in both the RNCS and FET Grades.

The Institute now has a comprehensive range of training materials for all sectors (production, manufacturing and retail) and all settings: from urban to rural, illiterate and semi-literate skills training programmes and individuals developing their own micro-businesses, to graduates at business schools, corporates involved in employee retrenchment and retraining and small business people developing business plans.

OVERVIEW: THE STATE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SOUTH AFRICA:

South Africa is one of a growing number of countries (43 in 2005) involved in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the largest and most rigorous longitudinal study of entrepreneurship in the world. GEM was started in 1999 by academics at the London Business School and Babson College in the United States. South Africa joined GEM in 2001.

The purpose of the GEM study is to:

compare countries in terms of their entrepreneurial activity;
establish which factors encourage entrepreneurship;
determine whether the rate of entrepreneurship in a country affects national
economic growth;
identify policies that encourage entrepreneurial activity.

South Africa’ position in the GEM rankings has dropped year on year from ??? out of ??? in 2002 to 20th out of 34 in 2004 and now 25th out of 35 in 2005. The GEM 2005 Report for South Africa has again indicated that in all measures of entrepreneurship South Africa ranks lowest of all developing countries.

Specifically South Africa:

has the lowest entrepreneurial activity rate of all the developing countries and it ranks 25th out of 35 in overall entrepreneurial activity against all participating GEM countries. Just 5.1% of adults in South Africa involved in an entrepreneurial activity.
35th in established firm activity (a business that has paid salaries & wages for longer than 3½ years or 42 months). Between 0.88% and 1.72% of South African adults between the ages of 18 and 64 own and manage, either on their own, or with others, a business that is older than three and a half years. In Brazil, Thailand, Greece, New Zealand and China, more than 10% of the adult population own and manage an established business.
South Africa’s low TEA rate is attributable not only to our low rate of necessity entrepreneurship (2.05%), but, more importantly, also to our low opportunity entrepreneurship activity rate (2.95%), which is the lowest of all the developing countries. Indeed, South Africa ranks 8th out of 8 in opportunity entrepreneurship (an opportunity entrepreneur is one who has started a business in order to pursue an identified opportunity) and 7th out of 8 in necessity entrepreneurship (a necessity entrepreneur is involved in a new business for lack of other choice of work);
South Africa’s start-up rate is lowest of all the developing countries (8th out of 8) and in new firm activity, only Mexico’s new firm rate is lower than that of South Africa (7th out of 8th). Thus we can infer that, with the exception of Mexico, South African start-up businesses are least likely of all the developing countries sampled to mature to the new firm stage. This indicates a lower success rate of new ventures in South Africa by comparison with most other developing countries.
The established firm rate (i.e. the percentage of adults who are owner-managers of businesses that have paid wages for more that 3.5 years) is 1.3%. This figure is the lowest of all the developing countries, and one of the four lowest of the GEM countries sampled in 2005.

Previous GEM reports focused very much on the question ‘Who are our entrepreneurs?’ and identified various demographics related to the individuals most likely to engage in entrepreneurial activity. GEM 2005, in contract, has indicated strongly that, worldwide, the primary job creators are firms that employ 20 or more people. Therefore, the GEM 2005 report is more specifically focused on understanding which groups of entrepreneurs are most likely to be the owner-managers of businesses that employ 20 or more people.

The summary findings from GEM 2005 are:

A tiny fraction (less than 3%) of necessity businesses create six or more jobs. Likewise, only a tiny minority of firms (3.9%) in the start-up phase employ any staff. This calls into question the notion that the informal sector is likely to be able to contribute much in the way of job creation.
While women are as likely as men to start a business in South Africa, men are the primary job creators. We estimate that for every 100 adult men in the population, the owner-managers among them employ on average 10 people. By contrast, for every 100 women, the owner managers among them employ on average an estimated 4.5 people. Therefore, GEM estimates suggest that the job creation potential of men is on average 2.3 times that of women.
The more educated a person, the more likely they are to start a business and the more people they are likely to employ. The potential of tertiary educated adults to create employment is 2.5 times greater than for adults who have only completed secondary education, and 11 times greater than for adults who have not completed secondary education. For every 100 adults with tertiary education, the owner-managers among them employ on average 29.3 people; by comparison with 11.9 people employed by adults who have completed secondary education; and 2.6 people employed by adults who have not completed secondary education.
Indians and whites are more likely to be the owner managers of new and established firms. The data also shows that Indian- and white-owned businesses tend to employ more staff on average, by comparison with their black and coloured counterparts. The employment potential rises dramatically with educational achievement and in all three groups, is greatest among those with tertiary education, and is at least seven times higher than for those who have not completed secondary education.

WEAKNESSES RESTRICTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA:

Both the GEM 2002 and GEM 2003 reports identify education and training as the key factor influencing entrepreneurial activity in South Africa, including the fact that “schools are not providing adequate instruction in entrepreneurship and economic principles, nor encouraging creativity, self-sufficiency and personal initiative”.

The GEM 2005 analysis suggests that South Africa’s low rate of entrepreneurship can be attributed to the low proportion of South Africans that have completed secondary school and investigates the extent to which the South African education system prepares learners with the necessary skills to start a business, relative to seven other developing countries.

The analysis also surveyed 4,625 Grade 5 and 7 learners in 41 schools from two provinces to evaluate the impact of entrepreneurial training on learners and explored the extent of entrepreneurial skills development across different school groups – the level and pace of which is highly uneven.

GEM 2005 FINDINGS INDICATE:

South Africa’s tertiary education system prepares young adults relatively well with the knowledge and skills required to start a business. Young South African adults with tertiary education are almost as likely to start an opportunity-motivated business as are their peers in other developing countries.
South African adults who do not have tertiary education are significantly less likely than their counterparts in other developing counties to be able to sustain an opportunity-motivated new business venture. This implies that South African schools are doing far less than schools in other developing countries to develop the skills required for entrepreneurship.
Despite the fact that in Uganda and Brazil the proportion of adults that have not completed secondary schooling is higher than in South Africa, this does not translate into low levels of entrepreneurial activity, as is the case for South Africa.
The probability of learners in predominantly black schools acquiring critical entrepreneurial skills and attitudes is as much as 50% lower than is the case for counterparts in predominantly white schools. The gap between predominantly white schools, on the one hand, and coloured and Indian schools, on the other, is smaller but nevertheless sizable. The gap in performance appears to grow larger over time. In relative terms, learners in black, coloured and Indian schools are falling further behind their counterparts in predominantly white schools.
The area of greatest weakness in black, coloured and Indian schools is financial arithmetic, a finding which is consistent with previous findings that indicate that the mathematics skills of South African learners are poor.
The majority of staff across all schools would value further training in the teaching of entrepreneurship. The need for further training appears to be greatest in black schools

GEM 2005 concludes that “entrepreneurship is a valuable component of the primary school curriculum and, if taught with appropriate materials, can enhance the development of fundamental skills in areas such as arithmetic. By making dedicated entrepreneurship teaching materials, such as Business Ventures, Enterprise Dynamics, Hands-on Enterprise and Standard Bank financial literacy programme, available to all schools, we will increase the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills”.

It was for this reason that SAIE initially developed the BUSINESSVentures Business Simulation tool – viz. to provide an accessible financial literacy, entpreneurship and business skills training programme that was free of the requirements of language or literacy levels to participants. The methodologies employed are immensely valuable and provide for learning by experience and by discovery so that complex concepts are translated into simple actions

POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF THE GEM 2005 STUDY

The inescapable conclusion of the GEM 2005 findings is that “the South African school system is failing to provide the vast majority of its students with the basic knowledge and skills required to start a business”.

This problem is likely to be most effectively addressed at the source, namely in schools because of the fact that fewer than 10% of young adults in South Africa will be able to access tertiary education and therefore some 90% of young adults will remain dependent on the quality of education available in schools. The poor performance of the South African schooling system, as demonstrated in the GEM 2005 report, is entirely consistent with the extremely high rates of unemployment among school leavers. The failure to improve the quality of education is also, therefore, likely to mean continued poor employment potential for school leavers who cannot access tertiary education. In addition, the failure to address the shortcomings in South African schools will have serious negative implications for the country’s potential to increase the quantity and quality of entrepreneurial activity.

GEM 2005 findings provide strong support for the value of entrepreneurship education and there is universal backing for entrepreneurship education in primary schools amongst the educators who participated in the study. The findings also confirm that the majority of educators across all schools would value further training in the teaching of entrepreneurship. The need in this regard appears to be greatest in black schools.

Finally, educators indicated significantly more confidence in the teaching of entrepreneurship if they use dedicated entrepreneurship materials (such as Business Ventures, Enterprise Dynamics, Hands-on Enterprise and Standard Bank financial literacy materials) rather than using EMS textbooks or no recognised materials for the teaching of entrepreneurship.

This view is supported by evidence among learners that the use of dedicated entrepreneurship teaching materials enhances the development of key entrepreneurial skills in the areas of business concepts and financial arithmetic. By contrast, the use of EMS textbooks is not as effective in developing these skills, perhaps because they do not give adequate attention to entrepreneurship within the broader EMS curriculum.

BUSINESSVENTURES EDUCATOR & LEARNER DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY IN SCHOOLS:

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. Oscar Wilde

The BusinessVENTURES programme provides the full EMS curriculum for each grade and constitutes a holistic solution to educator development in this new learning area. Each programme enables educators to be effective, efficient, dynamic facilitators who can impart critical and creative thinking skills and an entrepreneurial frame of mind characterised by opportunity-seeking rather than job-seeking.

These world-class learning materials provide the means of stimulating learning and do not require additional materials development or adaptation of textbooks by educators. Educators are empowered to take the role of a mentor or guide who sends learners to various learning resources, from which learners discover new ideas and ways of thinking by means of experiential, action learning. In this way, the educator is able to interact with learners in order to bring out and develop their natural talents and their capacities for creative and critical thinking. Most importantly, by facilitating learning through doing, educators themselves finally understand the principles behind outcomes-based education. The BusinessVENTURES development system provides a condensed EMS Curriculum Chart summarizing the EMS curriculum for each grade and showing the educator how each element of the BusinessVENTURES programme contributes towards achieving the required assessment standards in order to achieve the four EMS learning outcomes (LOs).

Educators discover that BusinessVENTURES learner materials and work cards empower them to manage large classes of 40 or more learners divided into five or six groups, each interacting with its own work card, in a process of self-directed, experiential learning. This empowers the educator to facilitate learning whilst also drawing on a wealth of learner resources including: work cards, posters, artificial money, puppets, research assignments, etc.

Outcomes Based Education has attracted many critics around the world who argue that OBE either fails to assess learners adequately or requires far more assessment than is realistically possible, forcing teachers to assess learners subjectively.

The BusinessVENTURES development system provides educators with custom-designed Assessment Form, which enables them to assess each learner against each assessment criteria stipulated in the NCS. Also, the educator’s guide provides an objective benchmark against which to assess each learner for each assessment task.

Because Outcomes Based Education also depends substantially on effective management of the learning process, the BusinessVENTURES development system provides educators with a Progress Chart that enables them track the progress of each group of learners as they complete each work card. Absent learners and those who are struggling with particular concepts are able to form an ad hoc group to complete or revise certain work cards. SAIE’s Educator Training programme provides training and support to all teachers in the form of an initial training session, two follow up workshops and on-site visits. The training is ETDP SETA accredited for which each educator receives 14 credits towards their life-long learning.

The BusinessVENTURES learning programmes includes a variety of resources which together provide the educator with the content, logistics and methodology to manage OBE successfully, viz.:

Contain the complete resources and lesson plans for entrepreneurship, thereby ensuring that the teacher has all the elements required to teach the subject (including Curriculum Charts for managing the curriculum; Learners’ Materials for managing classes with many learners; Progress Charts for managing the progress of learners through OBE and Assessment Forms for assessing learners efficiently and objectively)
Able to assist the teacher to facilitate rather than teach, whilst also providing confidence in having “the answers” and other suggested guidelines
All grades include all outcomes for the EMS learning area as well as all administrative forms necessary for planning, mentoring and assessment (in line with Curriculum 2005 requirements)
Are OBE compatible (and also make OBE understandable to the learners and teachers alike)
Are reusable year-on-year, printed in full colour, laminated for durability and contained in a durable canvass porticase

THE NEW BUSINESS STUDIES LEARNING AREA OF THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM STATEMENT :

The National Curriculum Statement Grades 10-12 (Schools) represents a governmental policy statement for learning and teaching in schools located in the Further Education and Training Band. This band is located between General Education (primary & junior secondary school) and Higher Education and Training (tertiary education). In September 2003 the Department of Education declared the National Curriculum as policy and, within the National Curriculum Statement (NCS), defined the subject Business Studies as being that part of the NCS for Grades 10-12 as dealing with “the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values critical for informed, productive, ethical and responsible participation in the formal and informal economic sectors. The subject encompasses business principles, theory and practice that underpin the development of entrepreneurial initiatives, sustainable enterprises and economic growth”.

This is an exceptionally positive advancement that could go a long way to addressing the issues raised in the GEM studies, and the subject, as defined by the Department of Education, aims to ensure that earners are able:

i. to acquire the essential business knowledge, skills and principles to productively and profitably conduct business in changing business environments;

ii. to create business opportunities, creatively solve problems and take risks,

iii. to apply basic leadership and management skills and principles whilst working with others to accomplish business goals,

iv. to be motivated, self-directed, reflective lifelong learners who responsibly manage themselves and their activities, and

v. to be committed to developing themselves and others through business opportunities and ventures.

Most importantly, the subject aims to ensure that learners are not only better equipped to secure formal employment, but that they are also able to be in a position to pursue sustainable entrepreneurial and self-employment career pathways. The subject’s four learning outcomes include

Business Environments: focusing on the different elements of the macro, micro and market environments and nature of business sectors;
Business Ventures: focusing on the development of factors that contribute towards the creation of sustainable business enterprises. A key feature is the development of creative entrepreneurs who can identify and responsibly pursue productive business opportunities;
Business Roles: the essential roles that learners need to perform in a variety of business contexts;
Business Operations: this should equip learners with the knowledge and skills to effectively manage essential business operations such as human resources, public relations, marketing and production. These need to be developed within the context of relevant legislation and contemporary issues.

MEETING THE CHALLENGE FOR EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NCS IN FET GRADES:

For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them Aristotle

The NCS Grades 10 – 12 Teacher Development Strategy has indicated that there is a critical need for teachers to assume their new role in delivering this curriculum, and use resource based and flexible learning approaches. According to the National DoE, “no more can learning be narrowed to a textbook approach with little exposure to other resources”. Rather, this new curriculum calls for teachers who have a grasp and understanding of OBE, who are knowledgeable about their subject area and who have the necessary skills, values and attitudes to teach their subjects. Such teachers “will be creative, innovating and analytical, and have confidence in their abilities to teach”. As such, they will be educators well placed to encourage a love of learning and facilitate the development of discovery learning practices in their learners.

With regard to the implementation of the Business Studies curriculum of the NCS Grades 10 – 12, however, teachers are not yet equipped and are unlikely to receive the training before the end of 2008 as currently planned. However, the South African Institute for Entrepreneurship has developed its tried and tested OBE compliant, dynamic, creative, innovative and stimulating learning materials for both learners and educators in all FET grades (Grades 10 to 12). The materials come with an ETDP Seta accredited Educator Training programme that not only provides educators with training and support in the Business Studies curriculum, but also in OBE as a methodology. The training for teachers is in the form of an initial 48 hour training session with two follow up workshops and on-site visits for the duration of the year. An assessment of educator capability is made after completion of the first academic year of teaching in the subject. Each educator receives 14 credits towards their life-long learning.

COMMUNITY ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT / ENTREPRENEURIAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT TRAINING:

The essence of entrepreneurial activity is endowing resources with new wealth-producing capabilities – that is, seeing and actualising productive possibilities that have not been seen and actualised before.Dr Nathaniel Branden

The South African Institute of Entrepreneurship aims to provide quality training to trainers involved in entrepreneurial business development skills training as well as provide the necessary training material in both trainer/facilitator kits and participant workbooks. In all instances the initial training of trainers is supported by a step-by-step facilitator’s manual that ensures effectiveness of both the facilitator and the training programme itself.

Beyond ensuring that participants have the necessary experiential knowledge of business principles, the training materials also aim to develop the ability for self-management and self direction, personal initiative and responsibility, a capacity for creative, innovative and independent thnking and a high level of critical thinking – essential qualities for an Entrepreneur.

The Business Expenses Savings Training (BEST) Simulation Tool, at the core of the Institute’s entrepreneurial training tools, is an interactive and intensive discovery learning training by programme which provides participants with an experiential knowledge of business management principles.

This Business Simulation consists of four modules viz. Profiting from a Home Business; Supply and Demand; Reaching your customer and Consolidation, whose learning points build incrementally on each other and are continually reinforced through action learning in the running of each successive module. In addition to teaching a wealth of business-specific skills, the BEST Game is also very successful in emphasising important life-skills such as teamwork, the essential elements of good communication, organisation, negotiation and compromise.

Beyond the core BEST Business Simulation Tool there are a range of additional modular training elements that can be combined to suit the needs of the target user group. These include:

Money Planner – develops the skill of drawing up financial statements using the costs and sales data generated by the business simulation in order to empower participants in creating both cash-flow and income statements as well as a balance sheet to reflect the state of the business;
Business Planner – which challenges participants to apply thirteen business planning concepts (business strategy, business partners, features & benefits, customers, competitiors, promotional plan, fixed costs, variable costs, pricing & margins, profitability, break-even, cash flow, profit & loss) to their experience of the simulation in order to design and develop their own business plan for a micro- or small business;
Business Ideas Generator (BIG) – a creative brainstorming module for the development of new product / service ideas;
Business Basics – a comprehensive “introduction to business” programme that provides participants with the opportunity to learn business skills and concepts (e.g. buying, adding value, selling for profit, selling on credit, allocating income, record keeping, supply & demand, costing, understanding the market, marketing, selling, pricing etc.) and then put the theory into practice in a simulated business environment.
Plan It – a thorough course in business plan development for loan applicants who need to write a business plan in order to secure a business loan. Complete with a 74 page book of blueprints, this training directs participants to do all the mind & leg work required to complete a comprehensive business plan;
Assess It – a thorough business plan assessment training programme for loan assessors who need to learn how to identify fatal flaws in loan applicants’ business plans and mentor applicants to correct those that are fixable.

The BEST Business Simulation and additional training programmes come with everything needed to train an unlimited number of individuals – in groups of between 10 and 30 participants. All the materials are reusable (besides the participant workbooks) and produced in quality, often laminated, form. They have been designed using the Action Learning and Discovery Learning methodologies and have been tried and tested since 1991. Both group and individual simulation learning opportunities are provided.

The SAIE’s training tools have been endorsed by the ILO and successfully used in more than 75 countries and across a range of participants – from illiterate and semi-literate skills training programmes and individuals developing their own micro-businesses, to graduates at business schools, corporates involved in employee retrenchment and retraining and small business people developing business plans.

AGRIPLANNER – ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR:

Lack of cash income is one of the most important factors hindering both urban and rural people from obtaining the diverse foods needed for an adequate diet. The State of Food Insecurity in the World, Rome: FAO, 2000

Sustainable community development must aim to mobilise and empower communities with the skills, strategies, tools and self-confidence to care for themselves and their future generations in a sustainable fashion. As such, the aim should not be to simply “give” to communities in the traditional sense, but rather to teach them strategies for growth and sustainability. In this way communities are provided with the social, psychological, emotional and intellectual support they need to ensure their long-term sustainability – and even prosperity – whilst also providing the right community environment within which children and youth (including Aids orphans) can flourish and thrive.

There are a number of key national Non-Governmental Organisations providing community development and skills training programmes with a view to promoting sustainable livelihood practices and household food security. Many of these focus on the issue of food security, food production and permaculture training programmes so as to ensure that households are able to feed themselves. However, few of them are able to provide the entrepreneurial skills training necessary to facilitate the economic growth of these “back garden” community food gardens from a source of food security to a source of wealth and economic prosperity.

In 2004 the Institute worked with various food gardening, small scale agriculture and household food security and poverty alleviation training organisations across the country to develop AgriPlanner, a training tool specifically for the food production and growing sector. AgriPlanner empowers growers to demonstrate how food gardens can become more than sustainable sources of food security for households. Indeed, by developing in growers an understanding of business principles, the programme demonstrates how these gardens can become more effective in employment creation and income generation. This programme is used in both rural and urban settings and assists growers from survivalist “backyard” gardeners to master growers and small-scale farmers.
The primary objective is to focus on how to use food, food production and related services in the pursuit of business ventures that become commercially successful and contribute to economic growth and prosperity. This would enable people to take the first steps from basic subsistence (food security) to initial income-generation and then on to full viable business development. In short, we would like to train these communities to realize that money does grow on trees!

Food production is a powerful starting point for this community-based entrepreneurial development initiative as everyone relates to ‘food’, the skills required to produce it are already accessible and have the power to immediately uplift the individuals and the broader community and urban environments in which these activities take place. There are also great benefits to be realised by helping to facilitate and actualize the establishment of small business and cooperative community enterprises based upon sustainable food production and urban greening. The development of the Agriplanner business training tool has been guided by a number of principles including:

Sustainable agriculture. Sustainable development is based on the principle of the triple bottom line, people, planet and prosperity. Agriplanner addresses social, economic and environmental issues. Learners are guided through a planning process that addresses the accumulative impact of farming options and choices on the environment as well as the long-term benefits of human resource development and financial management.

Problem solving (rocks and blocks). Many learners, when faced with a problem feel overwhelmed by the perceived block to their progress. Agriplanner offers a step-by-step problem solving planning process. that addresses potential problems and problem solving options within a simulated scenario. Agriplanner 2 takes the process a step further. Learnings from the simulation are translated into the farmer’s own context. At each stage new layers of constraints and dilemmas are introduced into a non-threatening simulation and then re-examined within the farmers own context.

Appropriate scale. Agriplanner is guided by the principle of realistic and achievable outcomes. The simulation and its iterations have been designed across 4 levels from subsistence to commercial farming. Participants in the planning process will be able to analyse the potential of their current operation and then discover how to allocate appropriate time and resources to their growing enterprise. At each of the levels, participants who are not yet ready to progress on to the next level will be offered an exit option with an appropriate action plan to bed down the learning they have experienced.

South African National Qualifications compliance. The National Qualification in Primary Agriculture has been analysed and serves as a guideline to the key categories of learning that need to be incorporated into Agriplanner. Agriplanner focuses primarily on three of the five categories within the framework. These are; fundamental competencies, agricultural practise and agri-business. The technical components, plant production and animal production, will be addressed through a series of worksheets, workshops and exercises that will deal with specific technical knowledge requirements and / or key concepts.

Emerging farmers (from zero to hero) Two basic scenarios guide the design. At one end of the scale, Agriplanner will assist landless individuals who wish to become farmers to engage with the complexities of building a viable business process and plan. Agriplanner will be able help them map the route from back yard producers to farm owners. At the opposite end of the continuum, farmers who have already accessed land will be able to analyse and plan their farming within their existing operation.

Commercial farming operations. The design team will explore the potential to produce Agriplanner in an electronic format. Any learners with access to computer facilities will be able to fill their own information into generic spreadsheets and planning tools. Individual farmers will be able to analyse their current operations and explore long term farming scenarios. It will interalia be a useful tool for farmers who are faced with the impact of climate change on their current and future operations.

International applicability. Agriplanner 2, currently being designed, will enable farmers, and in particular small-scale farmers, across the globe to take advantage of the planning and learning processes that have been demonstrated in Agriplanner 1. In essence the fundamental difference between Agriplanner 1 and Agriplanner 2 is that learners will use a range of variables that they have brainstormed and workshopped themselves and are directly applicable to their own contexts. In Agriplanner 1 all this information was provided for them, but only with a limited range of vegetable crops.

AgriPlanner 1 (the entry level programme) directly supports growers in establishing and running viable businesses and gives the knowledge and means through which they can begin to enter the formal economy, progressing systematically to deal with the following issues:

Level 1: What will we plan to grow?
Level 2: How much land can we cope with?
Level 3: What will everything cost?
Level 4: How will we have enough money to do everything?
Level 5: How do we cope with unexpected problems?
Level 6: Where are the best options to sell our products?
Level 7: How do we get everything to run smoothly from day-to-day?
Level 8 How do we use Agriplanner for our own land?

Agriplanner 2(the advanced level of the programme currently being designed) moves across 4 levels that coincide with the NQF levels 1- 4. There are 19 planning sessions across these 4 levels. Each planning session introduces key concepts, debates and constraints. The framework has five main components.

Level Description and level objective: Concepts and objectives are introduced incrementally across the four levels. The levels range from subsistence economies to commercial operations. Each level has an exit option and exit plan. Participants will be able to enter or exit at the level that is appropriate to their enterprise.
Inputs and Activities: The simulation and its iterations are based on actual, applicable and appropriate information. At each level, participants are guided through an information gathering process and this information is incorporated into their own planning process. Key concepts are introduced through a number of designed activities. These activities highlight debates and constraints applicable to the agricultural and social contexts.
Agriplanner levels of iteration:Each of the 19 iterations is a planning process in itself and each planning exercise introduces a new constraint or level of complexity. Participants are able to experience the consequences of their choices and given the opportunity to refine and deepen their planning skills. Critical cross cutting competencies are practised at each level. At each iteration and level the participant’s skills in these core competencies is refined and deepened. The cross cutting competencies are; agricultural enterprise and entrepreneurship, risk analysis, production planning, marketing, record keeping and financial management, communication, maths and literacy.
Concepts and debates: Key concept and debates are facilitated throughout the learning process. These are introduced through the simulations and designed activities. Debates and learnings at each iteration arise out of the differences in comparative outcomes between the participating teams. Sustainable and appropriate development and the concept of entrepreneurship underpin all the debates. Participants will in essence be debating the issues of social, economic and environmental sustainability. Participants will also be able to experience and debate the implications of choice, risk and entrepreneurship and gain confidence in their own ability to confront problems and make viable choices.
Documentation: Each participant is provided with his/her own workbook and records the progress and outcomes of each iteration. Three main documents evolve through the planning process. These are economic records, production and marketing plans and organisational agreements. The recording systems will be incrementally introduced and deepened. By the end of the planning process participants will be well practised in analysing and recording their enterprise.

Worksheets and Activities (nuggets): Although the principles that underpin sustainable agricultural practise have been integrated into the framework, the need for specific technical inputs has been recognised. A number of key technical inputs have been identified and worksheets designed as additional support material. Two categories of support material have been identified

Generic material that highlights farming principles. Examples include pest control, water and soil management, plant nutrition, biodiversity conservation and veld management / carrying capacity.
Subject specific materials. Examples include, organic certification and pack shed management, organisation planning and fundraising.

SAIE’S DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE:

The South African Institute of Entrepreneurship plays an increasingly important role both as a pathfinder in the South African entrepreneurship environment and as a global provider of exceptional entrepreneurial tools. Over the years, experience and ever-increasing knowledge have deepened the SAIE’s contribution towards nurturing entrepreneurial activity for greater economic development and wealth creation.

In the spirit of innovation and responding creatively to ongoing needs, we have many products at various stages of development and incubation. At present we are working on a Tourism training course called Wings of Welcome funded by SAA; an advanced level of AgriPlanner funded by Coronation Fund Managers; a Craft your Business programme for local crafters and producers, a Management Information System and an Entrepreneurship Portal for global application. We are also developing a Careers Guidance curriculum with Deutsche Bank and a youth development programme in entrepreneurship called Entreprenheroes.

SUSTAINABILITY

The South African Institute for Entrepreneurship has received considerable support from a number of South African donors including Corporations, Foundations, Private Trusts and individuals. This has not only assisted with the development of our world class materials but has also enabled the organisation to ensure that poor schools are assisted with the acquisition of materials and the implementation of educator training and learner development in their schools.

There is a great deal that the organisation has done to work towards its long-term viability and sustainability and considerable success has been achieved by marketing our training products both locally and internationally. To move further along the road to self-sustainability, the Institute has continued to grow its partnerships with licensing associates. This will not only increase the income generation potential of the organization, but will assist in expanding the reach of its training materials and services, thereby facilitating the creation and support of entrepreneurs who will be able to contribute to the country’s economic development and prosperity.

We would like to thank all our donors over the past ten years, including:

Coronation Fund Manager
Royal Bafokeng Finance
Astrapak
Deutsche Bank Africa Foundation
J P Morgan
Nedcor Foundation
Robin Hamilton Charitable Trust
Cadiz Financial Strategists
South African Airways
Pick ‘n Pay
Sanlam Investment Management
Master Currency
European Union
Department for International Development (DFID)
Joint Education Trust (J.E.T.)
N.Cape Department of Education
De Beers Educational Fund
Allan & Nesta Ferguson Trust
South African Breweries
British American Tobacco South Africa
ABSA Foundation
DG Murray Trust
First Rand Foundation
Foschini
Media 24
Old Mutual
Shuttleworth Foundation
Ministry of Flanders
Open Society
Umsobomvu Youth Fund
SEDA

CONCLUSION:

It is more than apparent that quality entrepreneurship education in our schools and for our youth is critical if we are to achieve the job creation and poverty eradication requirements of the country and contribute most effectively to the growth of the South African economy and social prosperity. Indeed, GEM 2005 has demonstrated clearly that education in South Africa is responsible to some extent for the country’s low rates of entrepreneurial activity, and a distinctive feature of the South African school system is its relative inability to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for opportunity motivated entrepreneurial activity.

That the failure lies with the schooling system rather than with the tertiary education system is apparent from the GEM 2005 analysis which illustrates clearly that the level of educational attainment has major implications for the overall rate of entrepreneurial activity. The South African of Institute has spent more than fifteen years developing the materials that most successfully facilitate this process of discovery learning – with results internationally clearly demonstrating the effectiveness and impact of its programme materials. The challenge remains to ensure that these materials are made available to provide each school with the resources, and every educator with the training to implement the programmes so that we can begin to benefit from increased opportunity entrepreneurship from young school leavers.