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Media Release

20 August, 2003


Businees Ventures - Building Budding Businesses!

Statement by the SA Institute for Entrepreneurship

Good entrepreneurial skills are becoming more and more important for school leavers entering an ever-changing workplace.

To actively promote a culture of entrepreneurship among young people, the SA Institute for Entrepreneurship (SAIE), formerly the Institute for Development Services, have been putting their Business VENTURES programmes into schools since 1997.

Business VENTURES is a suite of programmes covering entrepreneurial learning from grades two to 12 through action learning and self-discovery.

Learners are taught to run their own businesses and teachers assume the role of facilitators.

"To be a successful entrepreneur you must be committed, persistent, able to build a strong team and notice the details," said Robin Coxson, manager of learning resource materials at the institute.

"We usually approach corporates or funding organisations to sponsor Business VENTURES in up to 50 schools," said Coxson.

"We then run training courses for the educators who will act as facilitators," he said.

Business VENTURES is a series of entrepreneurship learning resources for primary and secondary schools, designed for use in and out of school.

Each product up to grade 9 meets the criteria for the Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) learning area for the particular grade, as defined in and required by the National Curriculum Statement.

All the learning programmes up to grade 9 cover the complete EMS learning area for the particular grade. Materials come complete with lesson planner, progress chart, monitoring form, assessment criteria, and a chart showing how each element or work card is aligned with the National Curriculum Statement (NCS).

That means it shows the NCS’ Critical Outcomes, Developmental Outcomes, Learning Outcomes, Assessment Standards and where applicable, the particular materials culminate in a fully developed business plan.

In short, all the work has already been done for the educator, whose role is that of a facilitator when using Business VENTURES with the learners.

Each of the eight modules provides all the necessary materials to facilitate and learn about entrepreneurship and business in one year. These resources are packaged in a zipped porticase and are reusable year-on-year.

The Business VENTURES educator training and support involves 80 to 140 contact hours with educators, depending on their rate of progress. At the end of the training and support – which culminates in the assessment of the trainees – successful trainees receive 14 credits in terms of the SA Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and the Education, Training and Development Practitioners (ETDP) SETA (Sector Education Training Authority) accreditation.

Training and support is delivered by their in-house accredited training officer, Trevor Bagley, who has over ten years experience in the field of training with the Western Cape Education Department.

Educator training starts with a two-day workshop followed by (at least) two one-day support workshops in the following two terms. This support is further strengthened through direct educator in-classroom support and telephonic support.

The final assessment of the educator includes written assignments, oral presentations, interface question-and-answer, group work and general contribution during training and group work.

Successful candidates are issued with course certificates in "Facilitating Entrepreneurial Education Programmes". The course provides for 14 credits on level 4 of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).

The SAIE recently ran a national competition in schools for users of their Business VENTURES programme.

"The aim of the competition was to further promote and build awareness around entrepreneurship," Coxson said.

Competing schools and educators had to specify activities they engage in to promote entrepreneurship among learners, while learners had to submit existing or proposed business plans.

Winners were lauded at an awards ceremony at the Mount Nelson hotel in Cape Town where three schools, three educators, three high school learners, three primary school learners and two out –of- school learners, won cash prizes totalling R25 750.

They pipped over 100 fellow competitors and head of the Western Cape Education Department, Ronnie Swartz and Western Cape MEC for Education, André Gaum, as well as representatives of the Education departments of KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape all attended the event.

For more information on Business VENTURES contact Robin Coxson at the SAIE on 021 683 1850.

For media queries, please contact Yvette van Breda on 082 465 6666 or 021 706 3484 or e-mail: yvette@netralink.com.


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