By Sandile Mahlangu
The School of Management Sciences at the North-West University (NWU) hosted its first entrepreneurship market day for the third-year Business Management students on 9 May at the NWU's Potchefstroom Campus.
The purpose of the market day was to expose students to the practical side of the work they have been learning as Entrepreneurship students on a third-year level. This includes learning about the strategic planning involved with selling your product, what to sell, when to sell it, the financial implications of selling and the success or failure thereof.
The lecturer, Mr Johan Gouws, mentioned that it is easy to learn something and go and write a test about it, but applying what you have learned in real life is another thing. “Theory will be forgotten. But if students must apply the theory that they learned in practice in real life, they will be able to understand the theory, remember it and make it their own.
“A very effective way to expose students to the world of entrepreneurship and to teach them entrepreneurial thinking skills is to simulate their thinking with a practical real-life activity,” he said.
The students were selling various products ranging from food to self-made designer clothes and bags made up of recycled fabrics and rendering services such as providing photo props like wigs and creative costumes and doing Mehndi painting.
One of the students who was participating on the day, Rachael Price, mentioned that entrepreneurship is easier said than done.
“Coordinating our products and working towards this day took much more than we expected. My team and I did not anticipate the hours that we spent on making this a success, but we can definitely say that it was worth it. It indeed does take a lot of hard work and preparation to succeed in the entrepreneurial space.”
Another student selling bags from recycled fabric, Kamogelo Segale, said that “it is important as a young person to become innovative and provide products that are different from what everyone else is selling in the market. Mitigating load shedding was our main challenge in making this a success, but we eventually did pull through.”
The day was a success for student entrepreneurs, and the students and the general public who bought the products also enjoyed it. Kamogelo Ntsoeng shared that she is grateful for the opportunity to support her peers and wishes that the institution can do this more often, as this is a fun experience.
The market day was a first for the Entrepreneurship module on the Potchefstroom Campus, and the day was such a success that Mr Gouws has decided to continue to
host the market day for the Entrepreneurship students in the future. “Not only did the students enjoy the innovative teaching approach, but the fun students had, and the smiles displayed on their faces enriched my life as lecturer and made me realise again that we as lecturers are not only here to teach, but to make a difference in the lives of NWU students.”
Students hard at work during the first entrepreneurship market day.
