ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLATFORMAND

ECOSYSTEM

WITHIN THE HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR

2011 towards 2021

Dr EL Van Staden

1

Human Resource Development Council of South Africa (HRDCSA, 2011)

Who is the HRDC?

✓ The Human Resources Development Council of South Africa (HRDCSA) is an advisory body to the Presidency

✓ Launched in 2009

✓ Chairpersonship of the then Deputy President of Republic of South Africa, Mr Kgalema Motlanthe.

✓ Membership of: a number of government Ministers, senior business leaders, General Secretaries of Trade Unions, Vice Chancellors of universities, Civil Society representative as well as senior people from professional bodies (among others) serve on this Council.

✓ The day-to-day management of the work of the Council is led by a Secretariat that is located within the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).

Entrepreneurial education has been successfully implemented in various countries around the

worldCountry Level Programme summary Nature of intervention

Singapore Primary and high school

YES! Programme running outside of school hoursPiloting a new programme which will include more mentoring and hands-on experience

Role playsCase studiesProblem solving

Botswana Junior secondary Integrate entrepreneurial content into multiple subjectsAim to develop ‘entrepreneurial characteristics’

InfusionMini-enterprise project

Norway Primary and high school

Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking are found at the base of many subject curricula

Stimulation and development of creativity, pupil participation and active learning

U.S.A. Adhoc – state dependent

Aim to teach skills as well as encouraging creative thinking and promoting a strong sense of self-worth and accountability.

Various

Kenya Secondary school

Know-About-Business (KAB) programme – 10 modules taught as a 2-year course to all students, outside of the school curriculum

Theory modulesBusiness game

Denmark Junior and secondary

Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship - Young Enterprise (FFE-YE) established to integrate entrepreneurial education into the curriculum

Educational materialCompetitionsTrade show

Entrepreneurship is the key to reducing poverty, unemployment and boosting the economy

South Africa needs to grow it’s

GDP,

- to reduce poverty

- to reduce unemployment

- to boost the economy

Research has shown

that for a 1% increase in

the new business entry

rate:1.46%

increase in

GDP/capita

0.69% reduction

in

unemployment

1%

increase

in exports

Entrepreneurship is the key... Source: Cumming, Douglas J., Johan, Sofia A. and Zhang, Minjie, The Economic Impact of Entrepreneurship: Comparing International

Datasets (May 4, 2013)

We need to change the mindsets of South Africans to be more entrepreneurial and equipped to start and

maintain businessesSouth Africa’s TEA index is lower than other developing countries:

Of all the age groups, South African youth are least likely to start a business:

2012 2011 2010 2009

South Africa 7.3% 9.1% 8.9% 5.9%

Brazil 15% 14.9% 17.5% 15.3%

China 13% 24.0% 14.4% 18.8%

Source: GEM Reports

2011/2

18-24 yrs

25-34 yrs

35-44 yrs

45-54 yrs

55-64 yrs

2010 20% 36% 24% 14% 6%

2011 16% 24% 32% 19% 9%

CountryPerceivedcapabilit-

ies

*Quality of

education

TEA 2012

Malawi 86% 65 36%

Zambia 84% 39 41%

Namibia 76% 126 18%

Ethiopia 74% 85 15%

Ghana 86% 62 37%

Nigeria 86% 83 35%

Botswana 70% 55 28%

Uganda 88% 69 36%

South Africa

40% 140 7%

*Rank out of 144 countries

South African’s perceive their entrepreneurial capabilities as the lowest of 10 sub-Saharan countries

Entrepreneurs strongly believe that there is insufficient time devoted to teaching

entrepreneurship

... and hence very few people can manage new firms

75%64%

79%

12%

15%

12%

13%21%

9%

Primary & Secondary University & College

Agree

Neither agree / disagree

Disagree

“Schools devote enough time to teaching entrepreneurship”

“Many people can manage new firms”

Omidyar Network in partnership with Monitor Group (2013) “Accelerating Entrepreneurship in Africa”

Young people need to be provided with the skills, mindsets and attitudes to start businesses and sustain them

Country

Nas

cen

t e

ntr

ep

ren

eurs

hip

ra

te

Ne

w b

usi

nes

s o

wn

ersh

ip

TEA

Esta

blis

he

db

usi

nes

so

wn

ersh

ip r

ate

Dis

con

tin

uat

ion

of

bu

sin

esse

s

Malawi 18 20 36 11 29

Zambia 27 15 41 4 20

Namibia 11 7 18 3 12

Ethiopia 6 9 15 10 3

Ghana 15 23 37 38 16

Nigeria 22 14 35 16 8

Botswana 17 12 28 6 16

Uganda 10 28 36 31 26

South Africa 4 3 7 2 5

% of adults engaged in different phases of entrepreneurship

100,0%

19,0%14,0%

7,3%2,3%

0,0%

10,0%

20,0%

30,0%

40,0%

50,0%

60,0%

70,0%

80,0%

90,0%

100,0%

Tota

l ad

ult

po

pu

lati

on

Po

ten

tial

en

trp

ren

eurs

Inte

nti

on

al e

ntr

epre

neu

rs

Earl

y-st

age

entr

epre

neu

rs (

TEA

)

Esta

blis

hed

bu

sin

ess

ow

ner

s

Source: GEM South Africa report 2012

Four key areas need to be developed to implement entrepreneurship education successfully

Entrepreneurial education

Policy

Curriculum development

Teacher development

Private sector partnership

South Africa needs to develop all the components of the entrepreneurial ecosystem to support any education

initiative

Government

Academic institutions

Business

Policy

Funding

Support

Partnerships

Champions

Sponsorship

The changing

role of the

educator

Individuals and

intermediaries

HRDC of SA 2011…….• At the end of 2011, the Human Resource Development Council of South

Africa took a decision to establish an “Enabling Entrepreneurship Technical Task Team (TTT)”.

This Technical Task Team was led by Dr T Blecher of which Dr EL van Staden was a member representing the University Branch of the DHET. The TTT had representivity from industry, and other Government Department such as Dti, DST and DBE.

• Main aims of the TTT were to:

✓ investigate the current entrepreneurial landscape and the role played by different sectors of society in supporting entrepreneurship in the country bearing in mind that successful entrepreneurship can only occur within an integrated system of support.

✓ Identify critical success factors to building an entrepreneurial society as well as industry sectors where opportunities exist with a sustainable competitive advantage.

✓ The TTT mandate was to create an Entrepreneurship Ecosystem at our South African Universities

TTT 2012

• A vibrant entrepreneurship ecosystem at SA universities would go a long way in encouraging graduating students to consider entrepreneurship as a career path.

• One of the proposals in terms of the Universities role was to create collaborationwith and amongst the Universities that will assist in the following ways:

Deliverables:

✓ Integrate entrepreneurship within curricula

✓ Bringing global best practices to the university environment

✓ Making the environment at universities easier for existing entrepreneurship bodies on campus to flourish

✓ Stimulate innovation and technology transfer as downstream activities within the universities.

The Task Team further conducted a Study at South Africa’s Universities and Business Schools - 32 out of 36 public higher education

institutions responded to a survey to understand entrepreneurship offerings

• 20/23 universities

• 12/13 public graduate business schools (as well as 4 private business schools)

Respondents included DVC’s, deans, professors, senior lecturers, and directors

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1 2 3 4 5 6

Universities Core Universities Electives

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1 2 3 4 5 6+

Public Core Public Electives

Universities Business

schools

The majority of public HEIs offer at least of one core and one elective module in

entrepreneurship, with some universities offering more than four... but this is across the

entire university

Current

entrepreneurship

offerings

95% of universities and 91% of business schools surveyed in SA believe that the university sector is not adequately fostering a

culture of entrepreneurship

• Respondents were asked: “If you had to generalise, would you personally say that South Africa's university sector is strong in the promotion of a culture of entrepreneurship to its students and surrounding communities?”

Overwhelmingly the

answer was “no”,

indicating that a lot

needs to be done

9%5%

91%

75%

20%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Public GSB Public Universities

Yes No Both

While most HEIs offer some form of entrepreneurial education, content is taught using traditional methods &

only to business students

Research shows that developing the entrepreneurial mindset is best achieved through the use of interactive pedagogic methods, such as role playing, action learning and experiential teaching

Hence the need to share best practise and develop a standardised

entrepreneurship offering across HEIs

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

GSBs Universities

In order to do more, 95% of universities expressed funding as their top challenge

Hence the need to consider mechanisms to fund entrepreneurship, for example:

Innovation Outputs as part of the funding formula, and also establish

entrepreneurship through curricular and extra-curricular activities, university

chairs, accreditation requirements, research grants, etc.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Staff availability

Lack of faculty interest

Lack of student interest

Legitimacy

Lack of focus

Time

Qualification of faculty

Funding

The top three challenges that the universities

expressed were:

• Lack of funding (95%)

• Qualification of staff (75%)

• Time (55%)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Time

Lack of student interest

Legitimacy

Qualification of faculty

Lack of focus

Staff availability

Funding

Lack of faculty interest

Universities Business

schools

HIGH LEVEL RECOMMENDATIONS from TTT of HRDC SA, 2012

6.1 Position entrepreneurship education at a strategic level6.1.1 Champion entrepreneurship at the highest level and make it a strategic priority

6.1.2 Champion the integration of entrepreneurship education across all faculties

6.1.3 Recognise and empower FEDCI to drive the agenda nationally

6.1.4 Place entrepreneurship onto centre stage

6.1.5 Ensure practical application and a sense of realism

6.1.6 Encourage research into entrepreneurship education and related fields

6.2 Implement entrepreneurship-related initiatives6.2.1 Refocus university entrepreneurship initiatives primarily on the student market

6.2.2 Establish entrepreneurship centres at all Universities

6.2.3 Allocate university funding specifically for entrepreneurship development

6.2.4 Develop standardised ‘best-practice’ courses

6.2.5 Create a centralised knowledge sharing site ‘in the cloud’

6.2.6 Initiate a new National Entrepreneurship Week

6.2.7 Share materials and tools across Universities

6.3 Develop partnerships to advance entrepreneurship education6.3.1 Build stronger relationships between business and academic “ivory towers”

6.3.2 Develop strong relationships with existing business and social entrepreneurs

6.3.3 Build and support entrepreneurial support initiatives at universities

6.4 Measure and track entrepreneurship initiatives6.4.1 Audit all current entrepreneurship-related offerings

6.4.2 Define the specific outcomes for entrepreneurship education

6.4.3 Participate in the annual GUESS survey

COLLABORATION PROPOSAL:

• In an early meeting of the Directors/ Heads of 3 university centres for entrepreneurship (UCT, Wits and UKZN) it was discovered that the champions of entrepreneurship appear to face similar challenges in their institutions. Expanding the conversation to others involved in entrepreneurship revealed the same issues:.

✓ Entrepreneurship suffers from a lack of understanding and financial support from HEIs for both curricula and extra curricular initiatives,

✓ no infrastructure in many cases,

✓ lack of funding support for entrepreneurship in community initiatives, and

✓ embedding entrepreneurship into curricula in other disciplines is near impossible

FORUM OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT CENTRES AT HIGHER

EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS (FEDCI)

• These challenges were elucidated at a meeting of interested academics with the Minister of Higher Education, Minister Blade Nzimande at the University of Johannesburg (hosted by Dr Thami Mazwai on 11th May 2011) at which academics defended the importance of entrepreneurship and urged the Minister’s support in their activities.

• This was followed by several teleconferences; two meetings, one at UCT and another at UKZN (2nd and 3rd March 2012).

• The mandate from academics from 14 HEIs and a representative from the Department of Higher Education and Training, was to band together to lobby the cause of entrepreneurship and its development at higher education institutions in South Africa. It is against this background that the Forum was formed. The founder member (organizations) were those present at the meeting at UKZN on March 3rd 2012 at which a resolution was passed to formally set up the Forum and write up a Constitution.

FEDCI 2012/13

A need was identified to champion entrepreneurship at HEI’s, and FEDCI was launched to support entrepreneurship across HEIs. There is a need for leadership to

formally recognize, staff, and fund

• The Forum of Entrepreneurship Development Centres at Higher Education Institutions was launched on 18th July 2013

• The purpose of FEDCI is to provide a platform through which universities can collaborate and strategise on specific entrepreneurial issues facing HEIs

• FEDCI aims to serve as a forum for the discussion of developments in entrepreneurship, sharing best practice in teaching, training & development and research

• Progress to date at that stage was limited

• In time when FEDCI is successful it could potentially be extended to FET’s

While FEDCI has been established there are no dedicated resources and no funding to enable the forum to drive its goals

There is a need to formally recognise, staff and fund FEDCI

FEDCI’s objectives

• To promote the collective interests of its members;

• To provide a forum through which the needs, views and concerns of its members can be expressed;

• To build capacity regarding entrepreneurial development through universities and to this end;

• To enlist the active co-operation of all universities involved in entrepreneurship development;

• To serve as a forum for the discussion of developments in entrepreneurship, sharing best practice in teaching, training and development and research;

• To promote the development of entrepreneurship education and training in South Africa;

• To enlist the active co-operation of all institutions engaged in entrepreneurship development both nationally and internationally;

• To be recognized as a national resource in engagement with government on matters relating to entrepreneurship;

• To collaborate in research in the field;

• To provide assistance to centres that are in the earlier stages of their development; and

• To collaborate with any other organization or institution engaged in scholarship and practice in the broad field of entrepreneurship

Engagement with HESA/ USAf 2013• An engagement was held between the Department, Task Team members

and Higher Education South Africa (HESA), now called USAf (Universities South Africa) was held in March 2013 to introduce the context and role of the HRDC and its TTT to the members of HESA.

– The presentation focused on entrepreneurial education development and informed HESA of the work of the HRDC and its mandate particularly as its initiatives are cross cutting and intersect with higher education.

– The purpose was to request Vice Chancellors’ commitment to entrepreneurship education and development at institutions.

– Introduced and requested support for the newly formed Forum for Entrepreneurship Development Centres at Higher Education Institutions (FEDCI) indicating that HESA will be exposed to FEDCI and its intended programmes for the 2013/14 academic years.

RECOMMENDATIONS: A Series of Recommendations have been developed: these can be characterized by

seven success factors to frame, design, launch, and sustain efforts in entrepreneurship education

✓ Senior leadership vision, engagement and sponsorship.

✓ Strong programmatic and faculty leadership

✓ Sustained commitment over a long period of time

✓ Commitment of targeted financial resources to innovation and

entrepreneurship

✓ Commitment to continuing innovation in curriculum and programmes and

sharing of best practice curriculum and methodologies

✓ An appropriate organisational infrastructure across and within institutions

✓ Commitment to building extended enterprise and achieving critical mass

Entrepreneurship education should be positioned at a strategic level and not only in the commerce faculty

• Champion entrepreneurship at the highest level and make it a strategic priority –

from the Presidency, to DHET, to VC’s, and Principals

– Place entrepreneurship onto centre stage as an essential

job-creation strategy

• Investigate the funding formula to include innovation outputs and research that

specifically leads to job creation, poverty allevation, and commercialization

• Recognise and empower FEDCI to drive the agenda, as an existing structure

embraced by the institutions

• Encourage research into entrepreneurship education and related fields, and

foster easy mechanisms to share this research

• Entrepreneurship education should be offered across faculties, especially FET’s

Universities should…2014/15

• Establish entrepreneurship centres at all Universities

• Refocus university entrepreneurship initiatives on the students

themselves

• Develop ‘best-practice’ courses and mechanisms for sharing

• Create a centralised knowledge sharing site ‘in the cloud’. Relevant IP

should be shared and considered a national asset

• Allocate university funding specifically for entrepreneurship

development

• Initiate a new National Entrepreneurship Week

Initial PARTNERS

• Dr Richard Maponya Institute for Skills and

Entrepreneurship Development NPC has been established to promote vocational and technical training with the objective of fostering entrepreneurship and reducing unemployment, poverty and inequality.

• The mission is to provide unique development value (the Maponya Way) to learner entrepreneurs; inculcating entrepreneurship spirit and culture; offering real life business administration, technical skills development, practical management and leadership competencies.

• University of Johannesburg funding of a project

manager

• ENACTUS is an international non-profit organization that brings

together student, academic and business leaders who are committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need. ENACTUS has established the largest global business and higher education network in over 36 countries.

Key upcoming events on entrepreneurial education (2016) were as follows:

• Conference, 18 August 2016 offered at the University of Johannesburg through the Dr Richard MaponyaInstitute that will showcase the drivers implementing entrepreneurial education at a systemic level to the higher education community

• Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), in November.

• The Richard Maponya roadshow to all the universities.

Patron of Entrepreneurial project 2016

• Deputy Minister (DM) of DHET as patron of this project

• UJ Coordinated and funded the Project manager position (Dr N Clarke appointed).

• Structured and comprehensive approach be implemented through a partnership model by which the DHET and the Ministry can steer Entrepreneurship development for the entire post school system.

• The Department for Small Business Development will be co-opted into this process - the DM to engage with the Minister Zulu for this purpose.

START OF EDHE…2016/17

EDHE….2016/17 - goals and drivers • The development of academic entrepreneurship;

• The development of student entrepreneurs; and

• The development of entrepreneurial universities.

These goals are to be achieved through the following key actions, described in the concise action plan below:

• Key action 1a: Conduct a fact-finding mission on the state of entrepreneurship development at universities and engage with stakeholders

• Key action 1b: Compile a concept note positioned for raising entrepreneurship development funding

• Key action 2: Position entrepreneurship development at a strategic level in universities

• Key action 3: Optimise entrepreneurship education through best practice and policy: 9 projects

• Key action 4: Establish partnerships to advance entrepreneurship development

• Key action 5: Facilitate and implement entrepreneurship development initiatives focused on the student market

• Key action 6: Measure and track entrepreneurship development initiative

30

Key actions

OBJECTIVESOFENTREPRENEURSHIPDEVELOPMENTPLATFORM

KEYACTIONSOFENTREPRENEURSHIPDEVELOPMENTPLATFORM

1

Stakeholderengagement

Fact-findingmission

Conceptnote

2

Positionentrepreneur-

shipdevelopmentstrategicallyin

HEIs

3

Optimiseentrepreneur-

shipdevelopmentthroughbestpracticeand

policy

4

Establishpartnershipstoadvance

entrepreneur-ship

development

5

Implemententrepreneur-

shipdevelopmentinitiatives

focusedonthestudentmarket

6

Measureandtrack

entrepreneur-ship

developmentinitiatives

31

1. National entrepreneurship development (EDHE) platform

2. Communities of practice

3. Online knowledge sharing platform

4. Practitioner training events

5. Annual intra-university entrepreneurship development indabas /

intervarsity

6. Student entrepreneurship competitions and awards

7. Supported by University based infrastructure

8. Participation in international forums for entrepreneurship development

EDHE Components

EDHE platform - Criteria

32

1. Facilitation and coordination structure

2. Provides support to all HEIs on a National level

3. Driven from within DHET

4. Spans across universities

5. Interface with support structures within each University

and Government Departments

EDHE platform - criteria….

33

6. Each HEI defines and implements own

entrepreneurship development strategy

7. Strategy should be present in the University's strategic

plan, reflected in defined KPIs and assigned

responsibilities

8. Relationship between the EDHE platform and each

University based on agreements with the University

management regarding inputs, outputs and milestones.

9. System based on performance - resources provided

against deliverables

In a Nutshell: StakeholdersEntrepreneurship Development Stakeholder Framework

DHET

DSBD DTI DST SOE

National(EDHE(Platform

University(Mechanisms

Student/Graduate(Enterprises

USAF

HEI1 HEI3

Private(Sector

Public(Entities

Suppliers

Prov Local;Gov

FundersBBBEE

Mentors

Service;Providers

NGOs

Interest;Groups

Academic;Project

Student;Project

Entrepreneurial;University;Project

Infrastructure

ED;SupportED;Support

InfrastructureInfrastructure

ED;Support

HEI2

Communities;

of;Practice

Univ Strategy

ED;Support;Interface

Graduate;Entrepreneur;Interface Communities

University(Management

Cop

–COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE (COPS)• A national Community of Practice is to be established in

partnership with USAF.

• This approach should be copied within University culture, where CoPs would involve the coming together on a national and regional level of like-minded practitioners in the entrepreneurship development space.

• Through CoPs, best practices can be disseminated across the entrepreneurship development landscape and the impact of entrepreneurship development increased.

The ultimate aim is to transition from an institution offering entrepreneurship education to being an entrepreneurial

university.

University Community

Entrepreneurial university

CentresTechnology

transfer

Community outreach

Business incubation

Scholarship Curriculum

Evolution of entrepreneurship dimensions

Academic entrepreneurship

Enterprise supportEntrepreneurial

behaviour

Source: Prof Shahida Cassim (unpublished paper), 2012/13

Most S.A. HEIs are

currently in the

“Enterprise support” part

of the continuum

The Entrepreneurial University

• However, to harness this valuable resource, Universities need to recognise and optimisethe development of entrepreneurship. Already in 1996 Burton Clarke identified an integrated entrepreneurial culture as one of five common elements of successful institutional transformation.

• Both students and universities could benefit from HEIs being entrepreneurial.

Entrepreneurial Universities….• Students / graduates need to become economically active, whereas

universities need to generate a growing third stream income. At the majority of universities, however, this is currently not yet happening in a structured way.

• The nature of entrepreneurial activity at universities often does not lead to the generation of economic value.

✓ Research and innovation are crucial aspects in the value chain and could lead to the development of products, patents and downstream activity in the form of commercialisation. T

✓ The terms innovation and entrepreneurship are, however, frequently used interchangeably, giving rise to research and innovation initiatives being considered entrepreneurial activities.

✓ Similarly, successful community engagement and social entrepreneurial initiatives are often launched, but these do not usually result in students choosing to become entrepreneurs.

2019 and beyond:Became a Flagship programme of USAf, funded budget of

R17,9m by UCDGDeliverables:Structure and governance:

✓ EDHE operations established and maintained

✓ EDHE advisory committee

Policy development:

✓ Policy statement development

✓ Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Report (2019)

✓ Research Policy baseline report

✓ M&E report?

Collaborations:

✓ Annual EDHE lekgotlas / Intra-university indabas / university executive leadership

✓ Bi-annual COPs (6) engagements / Online EDHE entrepreneurship platform /

✓ Social media platforms / EDHE awards / SEW week

✓ Virtual international tour….

Public private Partnerships

✓ British Council / US embassy / Allan Gray / SAB foundation / FNB / Entrepreneurship organisation

Entrepreneurship education is a necessity throughout life

Entrepreneurship education plays an essential role in shaping attitudes, skills and culture – from the primary level up. We

believe entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and behaviours can be learned, and that exposure to entrepreneurship education

throughout an individual’s lifelong learning path, starting from youth and continuing through adulthood into higher education –as well as reaching out to those economically or socially excluded

– is imperative.

World Economic Forum’s Global Education Initiative (2009)

thank youkea lebohaSiyabonga

enkosi