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small business youth entrepreneurship

Call for entries – high school entrepreneurship education programs & clubs

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Communication from Eskom Simama Ranta:

Eskom is inviting entries from South African secondary schools for the 2013 “Eskom Entrepreneurship Education Simama Ranta” competition with total awards of R865,000.00 to the winning schools.
The 2013 edition received a huge upgrade from Eskom in terms of awards. A winning school from each of the 9 South African provinces, together with first runner-up and second runner-up will be selected to give a total of 27 winning schools. The total award of R865,000 will be distributed as follows: national winner – R100,000; each Provincial winner – R50,000; each First runner-up – R25,000; and each second runner-up to receive R10,000. These awards must be used by the schools to support the entrepreneurial projects by the learners.

You could read more on the 2012 winning schools here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/104159197/Eskom-Simama-Ranta-Provincial-Winners-2012

For more information: Simama Ranta webpage

“Simama Ranta” means empowering the South African economy through entrepreneurship, education. The competition aims to identify, honour and showcase those South African secondary schools that are exemplars in entrepreneurship education.
These schools are addressing a principle of the South African government’s economic development policy in preparing learners to consider entrepreneurship as career choice – and become job creators rather than job seekers.
The goal of the Simama Ranta competition is to highlight the variety of comprehensive, quality entrepreneurship education in South Africa’s education system and to showcase the winning schools as leaders in mentoring other schools. 
Education With Enterprise Trust (EWET) – who manages the Simama Ranta schools competition for the Eskom Foundation, is a non-profit organisation that has for year’s devoted their knowledge, skills and talent to enhance enterprise education in high schools. They work in over 800 schools throughout South Africa, empowering educators to promote entrepreneurship and enhance teaching and learning in economic and management sciences
Who can enter?
Previously Simama Ranta was only open to schools in the Education With Enterprise Trust network but this year any enterprise club operating at a high school in South Africa can enter.
All South African intermediate and secondary schools are eligible to enter. However schools must run an enterprise club that teaches learners the basic of business through practical application. Each club must also give consideration to and respond to the socio-economic challenges in your school’s community.
Categories
inequality political economy public policy Vision 2030 youth entrepreneurship

This nation

You’re gonna burn out all my love
I keep telling you
How you bruised my heart 
Keeping me holding on too long
(Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse)
Last week, as I was about to be interviewed on a radio show about an issue of competition law, I received a frantic sms from the producer. The show is running 30 minutes late. She is overwhelmed. And close to tears. It turns out that the subject under discussion before I was about to go on the talk show was rape in South Africa, in the wake of the brutal rape and murder of Anene Booysen. The nation is outraged, broken and once again, at a loss for words.
The past few months have reminded us of our brokenness, our demons and our fault lines. But we didn’t learn anything new about our nation. Femicide, violent protest, corruption – I could go on – these are things we know about ourselves already.
The show must go on. And so the producer informs me that the host will talk to me after the news. The news is followed by a commercial break. Then the very talented and gracious radio host helps us all transition from brutal crime to corporate corruption. That’s how we roll, how’ve learnt to roll, from crisis to crisis.
*
The show must go on. The presidential motorcade winds down Adderley Street. It’s a good show. Red carpet. Military guard of honour. Black-suited men dashing out of big black cars. For a night, the political divide gives way to the afrochic/ball-gown divide.
You’re gonna burn out all my love. Our military band is full of surprises.
You’re gonna burn out all my love, Sipho Hotstix Mabuse sang in the 1980s. The country was on fire. But we danced to Hotstix, and Chaka Chaka and Fassie and Stimela. I listen to that music today, that soundtrack to the eighties that we dismissed as bubble-gum, and it’s hard to discern the pain buried therein. You have to listen closely. The show must go on. We danced then. We dance today.
The 21 gun salute. No-one really wants to talk about guns today. I’m afraid that, unlike the praise singer, pelo ya ka ha e monate.
*
As the presidency announced earlier this month, this is the first state of the nation speech delivered within the context of the national development plan. The plan will tackle poverty, inequality and unemployment. The head of state rattles of goals that we aspire to. But he acknowledges that we will not achieve the good life, as defined by government, with our tepid Mzansi economic growth rates.
There is a need to engage the social partners for solutions. This is the kind of rhetoric that drives people straight into the arms of authoritarian populism.
I’m not a hater. Concrete projects are mentioned. Power stations, dams and ports are being built. It’s not all tuck shops and rural lifestyle estates, you see. Like, I’m talking about 860 billion Rands. ‘Nuff said, some might think.
I’m really not a hater. Like those people that routinely criticise the speech of being short on detail. It’s a one hour (or thereabouts) speech. Get over it. Go read some policies and annual reports.
There are some recurring ideas and policies. I suppose that is the challenge. The commander-in-chief can keep presenting the nation with new, lofty plans every year or keep plugging at the same general framework, pushing for implementation. And so we learn that some discussions have been concluded on the issue of incentives for youth employment. An accord will be signed later this month. We wait with bated breath. This enterprise is a follow up from the 2010 state of the nation. Other familiar ideas to tackle unemployment include boosting the tourism sector and the expanded public works programme. These are solid ideas, with tireless officials behind them. But there’s the question of impact. There’s an assurance that this programme of action will be implemented differently as departments are expected to align themselves with the National Development Plan.
There are newish ideas that also deserve a chance. The Nationa Health Insurance pilot is such an idea. What’s the point of debating this idea in abstract when sensible experimentation might yield some interesting results? Keep it real, keep it fact-based, and something special might emerge.
*
The account of the Marikana moment leaves me bewildered. What did I expect? Outrage, even longer pauses, eyes off the page?
We are told that there is policy certainty in the mining sector, mostly because the nationalisation debate was laid to rest late last year. Reports from the recent Mining Indaba paint a less reassuring picture. Anyway, it has been determined that a suitable tax policy is the solution to our mineral resource management woes. Perhaps this is what I love most about this nation. After a few years of vexed debate, bringing us to the brink of serious strife, we find our way out of the mess in the tax code. I just wish we could skip the part where we flirt with the edges.
*
You’re gonna burn out all my love. Or not. There’s hope. Like Hotstix achieving his matric certificate at 60.
I’m done with my armchair dissing. This is what I’m fighting for this year: fair, efficient and inclusive markets in our economy.
I might burn out all my love. I probably won’t. The show must go on.
Categories
competition policy wealth youth entrepreneurship

Merger control in Africa…and other links

I’ve spent the past few days at Oxford University in the UK, taking part in alumni weekend activities. Oxford is amazing in the spring, just before the start of the academic year. I attended various functions across the university. At the SBS business school events, I was struck by the increasing number of MBAs and other alumni who are setting up enterprises in Africa. It’s good to see that the continent’s opportunities are attracting global talent.

The Financial Times ‘BRICS’ blog carries a piece by lawyers from a South African law firm that points to some of the regulatory issues that investors into Africa have to take into account, specifically merger control. Regulation in African economies is becoming quite sophisticated, and it would be dangerous to assume that deals on the continent do not require the same degree of analytical rigour that is applied in entering other markets. The authors express support to a regional approach to merger control, though it would not supersede national merger control regimes. The emergence of the African Competition Forum is one development that would allow for the sharing of knowledge and tools across competition authorities on the continent:
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/09/19/guest-post-african-regulators-get-to-grips-with-ma/#axzz276itO1vJ

The African Development Bank’s economic outlook for the continent was released this month, with a focus on youth employment. The report does not lament youth unemployment, but proposes policies to reap the potential demographic dividend presented by the continent’s growing youth population:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201209191071.html

I recently watched an MTV Base production featuring a group of young African stars interviewing the Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote. One of the interviewers asked Dangote to respond to allegations that he exercises monopoly control in the industries that his companies operate in. Dangote responded by arguing, essentially, that the barriers to entry in these industries (sugar, cement, flour) are low and that anybody is free to enter those markets. Interesting question, interesting response. Forbes reports that Dangote is stepping up his philanthropy, inspired by the Buffet and others (video):
http://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2012/09/18/africas-richest-person-aliko-dangote-on-why-hes-stepping-up-his-philanthropy/

Ventures Africa reflects on the South African Rich List. Once again, the Sunday Times places Motsepe at the top. Once again, this list diverges from Forbes, which rates Oppenheimer as the richest South African:
http://www.ventures-africa.com/2012/09/billionaire-patrice-motsepe-remains-south-africas-richest-man-as-rich-list-wealth-grow/

Categories
base of the pyramid enterprise development incubator Video youth entrepreneurship

Awethu! Unleashing the power of youth entrepreneurship

Christopher Pienaar (entrepreneur) & Yusuf Randera-Rees (founder)

Saturday afternoon in a big, Italian-style restaurant in Rosebank: it is noisy – what with clanging cutlery and high energy Jozi conversations competing with non-descript music.  And the waiter is grumpy. But that won’t get us down at this corner table upstairs. I am meeting with the founder of the Awethu Project, Yusuf Randera-Rees, and two of the organisation’s entrepreneurs, Sekhabile Lekgoate and Chris Pienaar.

 
Founded by Yusuf Randera-Rees and Ryan Pakter, Awethu aims “to ignite a youth entrepreneurship revolution in under-resourced communities across South Africa.” The organisation is a for-profit venture that identifies entrepreneurial potential and backs it with money and resources. I appreciate the fundamental optimism of this model – this is not about the traditional charity or corporate social responsibility approach to enterprise development. As Yusuf explains it, there is no reason to believe that under-resourced communities lack talent.
 
When I first heard of Awethu, I immediately warmed to the idea, but I could also see the challenges it might face. Such as endeavour faces selection challenges in separating good candidates from possibly high risk individuals who couldn’t crack it in the labour market. It could also provide the wrong incentives as it appears to extend finance and resources to  entrepreneurs who are not taking that much risk in their personal capacity. But the two young men sitting across the table exude talent, motivation and determination.  
 
During Awethu’s intense screening process, young applicants are taken through a series of practical challenges and psychometric tests to determine if they have the ability and the commitment it takes to build a business.  After the first round of tests, only 30 out of a 1 000 applicants made it to the next stage.
 
The Awethu Project raises important and unsettling questions about what we think about young South Africans, especially black ones. This is a country where the commentariat likes to talk about lost generations. They said this about the 1976 generation. It’s being said about today’s youths too, given that at 51% (the South African Institute of Race Relations as cited by Business Day), South Africa faces one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world.
 
Words like unemployable, uneducated and unskilled are thrown about carelessly. But as Yusuf points out, living and thriving in a typical township environment can bring out leadership and problem solving skills in an individual. Sure, you need expensive, formal training to produce engineers and mathematicians, but the entrepreneurial skills set can emerge develop in many kinds of environments. Yusuf believes that it should take about three years for mentees to become fully fledged entrepreneurs that are independent of the support that Awethu provides.
 
Sekhabile first heard about Awethu on the radio. A graduate of the Tshwane University of Technology, he was once a foreman at a construction company. Marking time in a big firm didn’t suit him so he started an Internet café in Soweto. That first venture, didn’t work out so well. Then he went into catering, selling wors outside nightclubs.
 
The chisa nyama experience

Sekhabile appreciates the fact that the project acknowledges an individuals’ potential and willingness to work hard. Bra Wor, the enterprise he founded, brings the chisa nyama experience to office parks, such as Constitutional Hill. A classic township chisa nyama usually involves a barbecue stand serving meat, music playing in the background and perhaps a car wash service. Bra Wor recreates some of this experience through its mobile stands and also offers a catering service for events. Being part of Awethu has given Bra Wor access to finance and connections.

 
For Chris, Awethu has been a reality check. His ambition is to make a lot of money but he says he has had to take a few steps backwards to learn about the nuts and bolts of running a business such as financial management and the importance of sacrifice. His company, Straight to your Door started as a bread delivery service in Alexandra. It has now extended into offering research and distribution services to corporates wanting to trade in Alexandra.  
On the vexed topic of barriers to entrepreneurship in South Africa, Sekhabile doesn’t think that money is the most significant challenge. Most times, one can find interesting sources of finance to kick start a business. Rather, the key issue facing aspirant entrepreneurs is how to deploy those limited resources to make a profit.

 
I suggest to the table that tapping into low-income markets represents an important opportunity for entrepreneurs in South Africa. I put forward C.K. Prahalad’s proposition that ‘the next big thing’ in business is to find and exploit the fortune in low income communities in Africa. I am met with a tepid response from a group of entrepreneurs that I imagined would be best poised to realise such opportunities.
 
We kick this topic around, and finally come to some sort of consensus. The opportunities at the base of the income pyramid have to do with socio-economic upward mobility and the emergence of a middle class in developing countries. I agree. There may be opportunities in bringing innovations to the market that make products cheaper and accessible to more people, but the real story is about people emerging from poverty and becoming attractive markets for businesses. It will always be easier to make money in middle to upper markets. In fact, some of the Awethu businesses are well suited to bridging the gap between the township and surbubia. Straight to your Door helps corporates crack their low income distribution challenge. Bra Wor repackages a classic township experience for an office environment.

Awethu Project featured on Play your Part 
 
The Awethu Project received an Echoing Green fellowship in 2011, a $60 000 award that also comes with mentorship and support. This places Awethu in a league of prestigious social enterprises such as Teach for America and SKS Microfinance, an Indian microfinance company that scored a $1.2 billion stock exchange listing.  Other Awethu businesses include Free Oranges and Ek Se Tours. The underlying businesses have achieved significant turnover growth, from almost nothing, and some are meeting their profit targets. Sekhabile sees his future at the JSE, just not serving lunch.
Links


TV coverage of the Awethu Project (Play your PartPart 1 Part 2
Business Day on youth unemploymentImages: Awethu Project, SABC
Text: G. B. Makhaya