This division of the National Enactus Competition was presented in partnership with the MTN SA Foundation and was designed to address socio-economic challenges in local communities through the use of technology that will effect change and self-reliance.
The team of students – all members of the NWU Enactus Chapter – set about introducing a computer literacy project in Sharpeville. The purpose of the project was to empower start-up entrepreneurs and unemployed youth in the township. According to Mr Johann Landsberg, manager of the bhive Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) on the campus, of which Enactus is an affiliated body, the project furthermore focused on the acquisition of soft skills to assist these individuals even further. “The outcome of this project will see residents becoming more employable and motivated to start their own businesses,” says Johann and adds that this will on the long run attract investors or venture capitalists to the area.
Dynamic partnerships
Dynamic and sustainable partnerships lie at the heart of the project and the team managed to foster such partnerships with the local government and several academic partners within the university.
To ensure access to the workshops and computer classes, the Emfuleni Local Municipality as well as the Sedibeng District Municipality made office space available in the Sharpeville Heritage Building. An expert in Local Economic Development (LED) from the NWU’s Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Prof Danie Meyer, then assisted in identifying possible intervention strategies with the focus on job creation and skills transfer.
The campus’s IT Department also joined in realising the project’s vision and donated ten second-hand computers towards the project.
The third leg of support was made-up by the community, and more-so entrepreneurs in Sharpeville together with members of the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce.
Project status
Entrepreneurial workshops are presented in Sharpeville every Saturday and the facility can accommodate 40 people per session. The training consists of 13 training modules.
The project consists of three phases of which each phase builds forth on another.
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Phase 1: Basic computer literacy training.
These classes commenced in June and a support-team consisting of Enactus members, NWU lecturers and NWU IT support staff are ensuring a smooth operational run. -
Phase 2: Entrepreneurial development.
The bhive EDC together with the team from Enactus present basic entrepreneurial workshops. It is envisioned that these workshops will culminate in an entrepreneurial challenge with prizes for the most innovative business ideas. -
Phase 3: Skills transfer.
During the final phase community members will be trained and capacitated through the acquisition of skills such as idea generation, idea to concept development, business model canvas, market research, financial literacy, branding, product pricing and business networking.
