MI-Ashanti to pilot course aimed at boosting success of entrepreneurs

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Research sheds light on startup failure

The Global Economic Monitor (2015) confirms that 90% of startups fail within the first two to three years largely due to personal reasons, lack of effective business and funding models.

The MI-Ashanti short course has been specifically designed, supported by global academic research over a period of two years, which confirms that startup entrepreneurs are ill-equipped to lead and manage their business successfully given the lack of business, management education and leadership skills required to grow and develop a successful business. The global academic research confirms that there is a lack of effective training and mentorship support programmes being offered to startups in the 21st century, to shift their businesses from concept into growth and development for success.

Greater reliance on entrepreneurship

The global market recession is alarmingly relying on entrepreneurship to stimulate and grow the global market economies with no sustainable solution in place. The research indicates that while the youth and entrepreneurs are keen to make a valuable and active contribution, the lack of access to effective business and management education, a negative mindset to failure and lack of leadership muscle and abilities from South African entrepreneurs are just some of the reasons why our startups are failing, even before they have begun.

A blend of theory and practise

The MI-Ashanti International short course, the first of its range of educational training programmes and courseware for entrepreneurs offers a blend of theory and practise. The course has been designed to offer micro-entrepreneurs i.e. companies with one to five employees, with the chance to learn through actions, supported by theory, equipping them with the basic fundamentals on how to build and sustain a business.

What’s more, the course offers a maintenance and support programme, getting startup entrepreneurs to do real time problem solving, enabling them to leverage their limited resources in time and money, cost effectively, while tapping into the field of knowledge and information that will be made accessible to them.

Driven by failure

Says Wendy van Schalkwyk, CEO of MI-Ashanti International (Pty) Ltd, “As an entrepreneur of two failed businesses I was driven by my passion for business and people to understand why I had failed in my own businesses. I had exposure in working for some of the world’s leading international brands as a corporate consultant for 15 years and was fortunate enough to have access to private schooling and education, but this still did not equip me to be a successful entrepreneur. I was driven by the need to understand why I failed, what went wrong and why and make sense of it so that I could get it right? It was with this endeavour that I decided to do an International Masters in Business Administration to understand the complexity of business, end to end, and see what is needed to be a master in business and how to build sustainable businesses.

My academic research IMBA thesis topic: How to reduce the failure rate of startup entrepreneurs in the 21st-century provided access to knowledge, wisdom and understanding required on the depth of challenges and obstacles facing our startup entrepreneurs, even before they have begun. I was then driven by the need to play a meaningful role in order to help them succeed and share the knowledge I had gained through my IMBA study and package it in a way that makes it simple for entrepreneurs to understand. The local and global market insights gained from this academic research exercise has been invaluable in highlighting what is lacking and missing from the equation and determine the gaps and pathway to success.

Survival and success

Unfortunately, the severe global market recession, aided by technology advancements in business will continue to pressurise companies into instability and large companies into scale retrenchments over the next five to ten years, evidence of this is already happening in the various sectors and industries such as mining and banking. Without government and corporates ability to make provision for jobs on scale, billions of educated and uneducated people in South Africa and around the world will be forced into startup entrepreneurship out of the need for survival to put food on the table to feed and sustain their families. Sadly, many of these entrepreneurs will fail even before they have even begun, given their lack of leadership, education and training on how to build and sustain a business successfully. While not all entrepreneurs can become Richard Branson, training and education can aid their survival and success.

The modules for this short course includes relevant topics such as; Why start a business, Registering your business, Developing a business plan, Financing your business, Compliance and tenders, Marketing, Networking, Tax, Administration to How to effectively manage your employees. Unique to this offering is MI-Ashanti’s unique complex business solving and leadership development tool which empowers start-ups on how to aid their growth individually, at a team and organisational level to increase the performance of their assets.

For more information visit MI-Ashanti International.