Let the 2018 Business Development Games begin!

© Rabia Elif Aksoy – 123RF.com

"If young people are to realise their full entrepreneurial potential and contribute to the greater economy, we must be active in moulding the youth’s talent, skills and ideas from a young age. This is why SAICA and Coronation have invited over 100 learners from every province to participate in the games," says Gugu Makhanya, SAICA’s Senior Executive: Transformation & Growth.

Playing the world-renowned Commercium board game, learners from participating schools tackle real-world business situations by assuming responsibility for the kinds of decisions business leaders have to make on a daily basis. In so doing, these learners discover how economic concepts such as tax, inflation, exchange rates, etc. impact business. In addition to being introduced to these entrepreneurial skills, participants also improve their team work, leadership, numeracy, strategic thinking and problem-solving skills. The games also teaches learners to act ethically and with integrity when it comes to making business decisions.

Participating schools have been selected by SAICA together with provincial departments of education. Learners are selected by their educators based on academic performance. Among others, they have to achieve a minimum of 60% in mathematics.

Real-world experience towards leadership

The games, which run till 1 October, are now in their 17th year, and are just one of the ways SAICA is creating the business leaders of tomorrow by giving learners real-world entrepreneurial experience and showing them that there is more than one way to contribute to the economy once they leave school.

"This is a strategic focus for SAICA for two reasons," explains Makhanya. "The first is that one of our organisation’s objectives is to assist in reaching the NDP goal of solving the country’s unemployment crisis. The second is to upskill learners to become business owners, as many of those who are studying towards entering the chartered accountancy profession do so with the goal of owning their own business one day."