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The ABSA sponsored School Entrepreneurship programme, in association with the South African Institute for Entrepreneurship (SAIE), was launched in five provinces in January 2016 – Eastern Cape (East London), Free State (Phuthaditjhaba), Northern Cape (Barkley West), and KwaZulu-Natal (Pinetown).

The School Entrepreneurship programme is of high priority for ABSA and SAIE. The programme is in line with the government’s objective to develop entrepreneurs in order to create sustainable employment and reduce poverty.

Fifty high schools from across the five provinces are participating in the entrepreneurship programme. Besides, the programme is planned to benefit about 100 educators and 4500 learners during the 2015/2016 year.

The School Entrepreneurship Programme, amongst other things, includes training of educators and follow up support visits to schools. Each participating school will receive entrepreneurship resource materials sponsored by ABSA. The resource materials are Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) aligned and fall within the Business Studies learning area. The Department of Education in the respective locations of the programme will monitor the effective usage of the materials within the classroom.

The key to the entrepreneurship programme is ‘Enterprise Creation through innovative Ideas’. In view of this, learners participating in the programme are encouraged to take part in the Business Ideas, Business Planning and Implementation Challenge, which has been incorporated into the programme. As part of the challenge, schools will compete against one another at the district level for prizes. We believe that by participating in a challenge and the programme, learners will get the opportunity to put their entrepreneurship knowledge and skills into practice.

The uniqueness of the entrepreneurship programme is that it targets peri-urban schools which are often relatively deprived of resource or learning materials.

The post ABSA Sponsored School Entrepreneurship Programme Launched in Five Provinces, February 2016. appeared first on SA INSTITUTE for ENTREPRENEURSHIP.