Instilling entrepreneurial tendencies in children

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the world is facing worsening youth unemployment and young people are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults. South Africa could benefit from promoting entrepreneurship as part of the holistic development of every child.

20 Jul 2015

Instilling entrepreneurial tendencies in children

Sanjeev Orie, CEO of FNB Business Value-Adds says parents should start exposing children to the world of entrepreneurship. "Over the last few decades, the profile of a typical entrepreneur has become much younger. This is partly because young people are starting to realise that opportunities to make a living go beyond a typical eight-to-five job. In addition, the lack of employment opportunities for the youth serves as motivation to explore entrepreneurship.

"We need to nurture talent that can follow in the footsteps of leading entrepreneurs such as Mike Shuttleworth and Richard Maponya. Even though the broader society plays a significant role in enabling entrepreneurs, the primary inspiration should start at home."

Guiding principles

Help your children understand the concept of entrepreneurship. The easiest way to approach any subjects with children is to use examples they can identify with. Look at products they like and start educating them about the entrepreneurs who created some of those products.
Align entrepreneurial nurturing with their passion. At some point in our lives, we all remember being asked, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" This is an important question to ask your children so that you can align entrepreneurial nurturing with their passion.
Encourage creativity. Children's hunger for knowledge presents an opportunity to shape their thinking around entrepreneurship. The ultimate goal should be to encourage them to solve complex problems in simple ways - which is exactly what every successful entrepreneur does.
Lack of entrepreneurial skills among parents should not be a deterrent. We often believe that entrepreneurship should 'run in the family.' However, this does not need to be the case. Support, exposure and guidance play an important role in helping children realise their potential.

"In order to prepare children better to meet the demands of the 21st century, we need to ensure that they are given a platform to explore every single opportunity and entrepreneurship should be one of the top considerations. At the moment, South Africa needs more entrepreneurs and the earlier we can start nurturing them the better," concludes Orie.