You may be aware that the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) found that South Africa has less than 10% of its population engaged as entrepreneurs. The GEM report suggested that entrepreneurship education at school level will provide for the most leverage to change this situation. An absence of a high level of entrepreneurial activity has the negative impact of low economic growth, weak democracy, unemployment, high dependency on government support for citizens to make a living, high crime rate and other socio-economic ills.

Provision has been made for entrepreneurship education within the “Learning Outcomes” and “Assessment Standards” of most subjects taught at secondary school level. Many secondary schools have “market days” and other initiatives to stimulate interest in entrepreneurship as a career choice amongst learners. The Entrepreneurship Education Simama Ranta 2010 Competition (which means “uplifting the South African economy” through youth entrepreneurship) with Eskom as the sponsor for this year, has been initiated to recognize and reward those schools who could serve as role models in the effective delivery of entrepreneurship education.

A winning school from each province will be selected from amongst whom a national winning school will be selected. These 9 schools will receive their prize money and awards at the “Eskom business investment awards function.” This gala function forms part of the 2010 Business Opportunity & Franchise Expo presented by Eskom and Thebe Exhibitions & Projects at the Coca-Cola dome in North Riding, Johannesburg from Thursday 16 to Sunday 19 September 2010. Each of the winning schools will furthermore be given exhibition space at the Expo where they will be exposed to thousands of visitors. Each winning school will be represented by 1 educator and 2 learners at the Expo.

Entry for this competition is now open until 9 June 2010: Entry Information 

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Simama Ranta represents one of three components of EWET’s (Education With Enterprise Trust) approach to entrepreneurship education. The other two components are made up of syllabi for “in-classroom” use and “Youth Enterprise Society” (YES) clubs under the leadership of the learners themselves. The YES clubs were developed between 1994 and 1996, after which the clubs were disseminated across South Africa to more than 800 secondary schools, with 5200 schools still to be serviced. Simama Ranta was first presented in 1996 and kept on evolving with the 2010 model representing a new innovation. The in-school syllabi component came into place since 2008 and gave tremendous thrust to the advancement of entrepreneurship education in South Africa. EWET’s work represents an excellent opportunity for Corporate Social Investment through EWET’s section 18a status (tax exemption) as well as EWET’s rating in terms of Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE).

Arie Bouwer
Product, Fund & Development Planning Manager
EWET – Education With Enterprise Trust

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