To expose primary and high school learners to entrepreneurship at a very young age, the Durban University Of Technology (DUT) Midlands Entrepreneurship Centre & Student Desk held an Adopt a School Entrepreneurship training for neighbouring schools on the 8th of October 2020 at Indumiso.

The training had 20 pupils from Izwi Lesizwe & Nansindlela Primary School and Zibukezulu & Amakholwa High School. This was the inception of the continuous Adopt A school programme aiming to expose learners to entrepreneurship at a very young age, focusing mainly on transferring business skills, cultivating a working habit and educating them about financial management.

In each school, the Centre will be working with the teachers who will be entrepreneurship coordinators to further implement the programme.

The packed training kick-started with a variety of entrepreneurship games that taught pupils about the fundamentals of entrepreneurship which includes collaboration, teamwork, risk-taking, consistency, planning and problem-solving skills.

The pupils got a major opportunity to work and be mentored by the studentpreneurs who are incubated under the Centre. The studentpreneurs shared their entrepreneurial journey, transferred their skills, inspired them to intrigue innovative thinking and instil entrepreneurship.

The vision is to work with more schools to implement entrepreneurship programmes and assist learns in establishing their businesses.

The learners were excited to work with studentpreneurs and being exposed to such an innovative space. They highlighted that this was an amazing opportunity for them to acquire more knowledge on entrepreneurship that will assist them in becoming future entrepreneurs.

MS Nomusa Zuma who is an educator at Amakholwa High school when commenting on the training said it had a very positive impact on the learners and it taught them a lot about entrepreneurship. She was thrilled when it was emphasized that entrepreneurship is not a smooth journey but it requires hard work, dedication and consistency.

Pictured: Learners from the neighbouring schools, studentpreneurs, stakeholders and the Centre team.

Sindisiwe Ndlovu