The WSU department of Student Development and Support Services (SDSS) has instituted a 12-week-long learning programme aimed at unearthing and developing an entrepreneurial mindset within the university community.
The Training Future Entrepreneurs (TFE) programme is an initiative birthed out of the institution’s mission to “respond to societal needs in ethical, scholarly, sustainable, and entrepreneurial ways, and deliver future ready graduates.”
TFE is the brainchild of SDSS Senior Student Development Practitioner, Nombulelo Khanyisile Blaai, who solicited support from the Faculty of Education, Economics, and Management Sciences in designing the programme; with financial backing from the Directorate of Learning and Teaching (DLT).
The programme comprises 12 modules which offer a simplified mixture of specific topics such as marketing strategies, finance, business management and strategic management; all delivered in a manner which makes it easy to grasp for individuals who do not necessarily have a background or textbook knowledge of business practices.
“The program invites delegates or participants who are purely looking at business opportunities. Some already have business ideas but do not have the knowledge of how to go about implementing them. We are also training mentors so that they can go out and help train others in order to help our graduates, and their broader communities to flourish,” said Blaai.
In August 2021 it was reported that the South African unemployment rate had reached a staggering high of 34.4%. Though a tertiary qualification puts one a step ahead in the job market, graduates in the country find themselves falling into the statistics of the unemployed. This is one of the reasons which make programmes such as TFE crucial in institutions of higher learning.
“There is a high rate of unemployment in our country, hence we want to make entrepreneurship fashionable to them [students], and create an entrepreneurial mindset, where they can be able to identify opportunities from problems. Becoming an entrepreneur whilst still a student helps you to get valuable experience and create ideas and opportunities for yourself and, possibly, the broader community,” said Blaai.
TFE was piloted in November with a group of sixty individuals which included staff and students, who were being prepared to take their knowledge and pass it on as mentors within the university community.
Professor Thobeka Ncanywa from the Faculty of Education, Economics, and Management sciences, who helped in designing the course encouraged staff as well as students to make use of the programme once it is rolled out to the broader university community.
“If students from any discipline have done this course, it means that when they go out of the university and struggle to find employment, they will have these entrepreneurial skills which will enable them to start their own businesses. Furthermore, even while they are studying, they can put this knowledge into practise and leave the institution owning registered businesses,” said Ncanywa.
Going forward TFE will be rolled out and participants will get twelve weeks to complete the twelve modules of which it is made up.
By Yanga Ziwele