Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Phanadapreneurs, a Community Engagement Student Leadership Academy student project team, recently hosted a Community Engagement Business Bootcamp at the Cape Town Hotel School, Granger Bay.

Jacqui Scheepers, Manager: Service-Learning and Civic Engagement, said: “The bootcamp provided for engagement across multi-sectoral boundaries with the aim of stimulating enterprise development and enhanced business practices in the informal sector.”

Student entrepreneurs, startups, emerging entrepreneurs, parastatals, local provincial and national government, business support development agencies and funders all formed part of the auspicious event. The focal activities of the event included information sharing, dialogue, skills development, business success storytelling, networking, but most importantly how students can contribute and assist with economic growth within their respective communities.

“The bootcamp forms part of a broader initiative by the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Units, Centre for Community Engagement and WIL [Work Integrated Learning], where students are encouraged to be more agile in their approach and are encouraged to think of ways and means to alleviate socio-economic issues within their respective communities,” said David Haarhoff, project lead.

Haarhoff added that they strive on equal opportunity. “From a Community Engagement perspective, it is imperative for us to continuously enhance students’ capabilities by offering such projects where our students are exposed to creative thinking and offered the opportunity to grow in all spheres of life through contributing to the well-being of small business enterprises and society at large,” he said.

In his opening address, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, Prof Paul Green, encouraged students and entrepreneurs to explore, experience and most importantly, to be flexible in their thought processing when considering this critical issue of socio-economic advancement in their communities.

The keynote speaker, John Peters, Chief Director: Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism, sketched the current scenario in South Africa in terms of high youth unemployment rate, low start-up rate of new business and high discontinuation rate of existing businesses. Peters further highlighted a weak entrepreneurship culture, regulatory and bureaucratic constraints, inadequate, fragmented and uncoordinated support eco-system, infrastructure, crime/extortion and other binding constraints as well as a lack of information and awareness.

Peters advised that government offers a number of financial and non-financial support to start-ups and encouraged the youth present to utilise these services. He urged students to become tech savvy, and to welcome competition, stating that it can sharpen their thinking and will allow them to be more efficient and more effective. In closing he alluded that most successful entrepreneurs never relied on handouts and/or begged government for support.

Jayde Barends, Senior Technology Transfer Officer, CPUT Technology Transfer and Industry Linkages, provided context in respect of her department and the technology transfer process from idea conceptualisation to socio-economic impact. Rushdeen Rose, Project Coordinator, Technology Station: Clothing and Textile, CPUT provided a detailed outline of services offered by the technology station as well as the various training programmes and industry initiatives the station is currently embarking on.

Phillip Chibvuri, Finance Specialist within the Residence Department at CPUT, provided context in terms of financial architecture and encouraged students to take time to know the worth of their “money”.

Director: Advancement Department, Calvin Maseko, highlighted that his department considers all three pillars of CPUT when embarking on fundraising initiatives. This includes Learning and Teaching, Research and Community Engagement.

Christopher Cupido, Acting Head of Department: Entrepreneurship and Business Management touched on the ENACTUS programme with a particular focus on students’ social enterprise development through ENACTUS as a CE project.

The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) was also represented at the Business Bootcamp by Xola Gxilishe, Jobs Officer, who gave a rundown of entrepreneurship and youth cooperative development programmes offered by the agency.

Amangile Botya, Akha Bobo, Williams Matsepone and Sakhile Mabena, young entrepreneurs, CPUT students and alumni, shared their respective business success stories. Scheepers viewed the bootcamp as a step towards the strengthening of partnerships and relationships within the business development sector and aims to engage in further community engagement initiatives and projects.