Entrepreneurship
The vital importance and positive contribution of entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial culture in economic and social development cannot be overstated. Entrepreneurs create and bring to life new technologies, products and services, and create new markets and jobs along the way. Entrepreneurs are smart risk takers, implementers, rule-breakers; or in a word: innovators. And like any emerging economy aiming to move ahead, South Africa need lots of them! Transforming ideas into economic opportunities is the crux of entrepreneurship. History shows that economic progress has been significantly advanced by pragmatic people who are entrepreneurial and innovative, able to exploit opportunities and willing to take risks. Entrepreneurs produce solutions that fly in the face of established knowledge, and they always challenge the status quo.
Genesis discovered that with empowerment of digital skills; citizens become innovative and creative in starting their own businesses. Most self-employed citizens are struggling on a day-to-day basis to grow their business. They are faced with compliance issues and accessing funding. As most businesses thrive online, entrepreneurs need to position themselves in a digital world to be successful. Many self-employed & potential business starts-ups fail to grow their businesses due to lack of entrepreneurial thinking and business skills.
Therefore G-CITI has initiated an entrepreneurship skills programme to empower communities with entrepreneurship business literacy, digital skills and the ability to develop a sustainable business through financial insight and forecasting.
Women Empowerment Training
Women are involved in all parts of society, but some matters affect and touch women more than others. Matters such as gender inequality and domestic issues are prevalent in South Africa amongst women. This has resulted in the creation of a gap that affects the current economy. The Women in ICT & Entrepreneurship project creates an opportunity for women to get access to acquire digital skills. These skills will provide a knowledge base to conduct their business online. Therefore, I-CAN Centre has piloted a unique project that will empower women with digital skills.
See Promotional Video – Click Here
Women in ICT & Entrepreneurship Exhibition
As part of the training project, a graduation and exhibition were held on the 9th August to graduate students and honoring women in the community. More than 250 women from various communities within the Cape Flats attended the event. Raelene Arendse, Mayco Member of Corporate Services was the key-note speaker of the event. She acknowledged the importance of technology and how it can accelerate communities, especially in the lives of women. Nomfundo Mdingi, also a sponsor and speaker of the event, motivated women in the pivotal role they play in society. She shared her personal journey of life, and many women identified with the message and found hope in her motivating words. Most women that obtained an opportunity to speak related to how their children were directionless, and brought them desperately to the I-CAN Centre for hope. They alluded to how the “funded courses” empowered their children and concluded that their children are in direct employment related to their studies. The event has made an indelible mark in Elsies River, and beyond as technology is changing the current narrative of displaced communities.
Click here to view the video of the event.
Internet - Entrepreneur making waves!
Shaun Diergaardt (Elsies Riverean) is an Internet-Entrepreneur! He attended the course “Digital Entrepreneurship” in 2015 at the I-CAN Centre. This course sparked an interest in him regarding “internet opportunities to generate income”. He started out with introducing citizens to online platforms to generate income. This engagement grew in a formal business in 2018! The I-CAN Centre High Speed Wireless internet sponsored by Sonic Telecoms has become a cornerstone in his online business! Recently, he introduced social networking apps “WowApp” & “Web Talk” to generate income and share in the revenue of the platform.
I-CAN Entrepreneurship Week Project
The uniqueness of the I-CAN Entrepreneurship Week are to promote and inspire citizens to engage in entrepreneurial ventures by starting their own business, while connecting them to potential collaborators, mentors and even investors. Through the growth of entrepreneurship in local (disadvantaged) communities we can address social issues such as poverty, substance abuse and hopelessness. In the month of Nov 2017, the I-CAN conducted an entrepreneurship week with various industry-led entrepreneurs to empower potential start-up businesses. The project also served as an adoption-model, where start-up business joined forums, such as WECBOF for greater expansion of their businesses. Click here to see Facebook Album.
Female Entrepreneurship Day
The number of women entrepreneurs in South Africa continues to grow, but the increase is not at a level it should be due to the higher number of challenges they face in comparison to male entrepreneurs. . In today’s post-modern era, the role of women entrepreneurs in economic development is inevitable and women are willing to take action in business and contribute to the nation’s growth. Women are stepping up to own and run businesses in numbers that would have been hard to imagine a mere few decades ago. However, women entrepreneurs face a wide variety of challenges both in starting and in growing their business ventures. Therefore the I-CAN Centre placed an enormous emphasis on Female Entrepreneurship within the Entrepreneurship Week. One day were dedicated to leading female entrepreneurs to share their story of success and endurance Click here to see Facebook Album.
I-CAN Business Breakfast
The Entrepreneurship Week was crowned with a business breakfast at the end of all workshops. Various delegates were invited to shed light on entrepreneurial opportunities within Cape Town. Thank you to the various speakers (Councillor Siyabulela Mamkeli / Colin Daries – CEO of Nu_Era / Chris Louw – National Empowerment Fund) Click here to see Facebook Album.
Sourcing I-CAN Students for IC4 Incubation Project
The Incubation Centre 4, an initiative from The Training Room Online, aims to inspire young South African entrepreneurs to develop into successful leaders of industry 4.0. By facilitating business ideation and creation, eligible candidates will benefit from a programme that invests in them and their innovative ideas, and also provides the necessary support required for their vision. The Training Room Online partnered with the I-CAN Centre in sourcing candidates for the IC4 project. Successfully 4 candidates from the I-CAN Centre were admitted in the project. For more info see weblink- www.ic4.co.za
Hectic 9 - SABC 2 Live Show
The infamous youth show, “Hectic 9”, contacted Llewellyn Scholtz to select the best presentation on Teen Boss Entrepreneurship Project. An opportunity were afforded to share success stories of the I-CAN Centre.
I-CAN Entrepreneurship Week – 2017
Many citizens who completed digital training yearned for training in entrepreneurship and how to grow their business. In February 2017, 3 workshops were offered to empower citizens with knowledge and understanding of how to start out and grow their business. Thank you to Andre Levendal, Chris Vermeulen & Joseph Ruiters who presented excellent workshops. Andre Levendal offered a workshop in “Conflict Management in the workplace” Chris Vermeulen offered a workshop in “Developing Sustainable Business Model” Joseph Ruiters focused on “ How Black businesses can growth with BBBEE”
72 citizens were empowered through entrepreneurial training in February 2017.
446 total citizens were empowered through entrepreneurial training from Aug 2016 – Feb 2017.
I-CAN Entrepreneurship Week 28-29 Aug 2016
The Entrepreneurship Week was a powerful networking opportunity and a chance to hear directly from leaders in the field of entrepreneurship. The event aimed at empowering individuals to move from self-employment to becoming entrepreneur. Since the I-CAN Centre has started with funded courses (with various specialization areas) students has seen entrepreneurship as an opportunity for income. Research have shown that people exposed to entrepreneurship frequently express that they have more opportunity to exercise creative freedoms, higher self-esteem, and an overall greater sense of control over their own lives. As a result, many experienced business people political leaders, economists, and educators believe that fostering a robust entrepreneurial culture will maximize individual and collective economic and social success on a local, national, and global scale. It is with this in mind that the I-CAN Entrepreneurship Week was developed: to prepare youth and adults to succeed in an entrepreneurial economy.
I-CAN Entrepreneurship Week 2-5 Nov 2016
The I-CAN Centre hosted another Entrepreneurship Week based on community demands. The project was graced by professional facilitators. One workshop was streamed live from Uganda facilitated by Avril Fortuin.
