Focus on Leadership & Entrepreneurship
Developing young leaders and entrepreneurs in Africa
Educate!'s mission is more than a catch-phrase, it is the number one principle guiding the work of everyone in Educate! Whether you are in finance, admin, design, programs, HR, external relations, innovations or M&E, you are all working towards the same mission. We develop young leaders and entrepreneurs, like no other! How does Educate! manage to accomplish its impact? In this module you will learn all about the Educate! way of developing young leaders and entrepreneurs. Because behind our mission are a unique pedagogy, education approach and close to ten years of learning.
Why entrepreneurship and leadership?
Before you start this module it is good to remind yourself why Educate! cares so much about leadership and entrepreneurship. Africa’s youth population is surging. Nearly 50% of all Africans are younger than 18, and that number is rising. These demographics, along with a scarcity of jobs, have led to dramatic rates of youth unemployment.
Education systems in Africa already face challenges meeting young peoples’ needs–current curricula and teaching methods don’t consistently prepare students for what’s to come following graduation. Despite an eagerness and commitment to learn, even students who finish secondary school often find themselves lacking the skills needed for the few available jobs, leading to unemployment and underemployment.
Educate!'s model seeks to prepare the growing young population to transform society and provides youth with skills training in leadership, entrepreneurship, and workforce readiness along with mentorship to start real businesses at school. Our model develops youth to take leadership initiative, start small businesses, get jobs, and improve their livelihoods. Not only does entrepreneurship improve individual's livelihoods, research also demonstrates that entrepreneurship has a positive effect of economic growth in Africa though differently across countries (Adusei, 2016; Van Stel, Carree, Thurik, 2005). The impact of social entrepreneurship at a national level is still under-researched.
What you will learn in this module
Why doesn't Educate! focus on developing business plans? Why doesn't Educate! provide capital? Learn about our vision on leadership & entrepreneurship and design business support sessions along the needs of young entrepreneurs.
Learn about the renewed Educate! skills map and challenge yourself to develop 21st century skills through group activities.
What business and employability skills do we focus on? Become a super star at designing business and employability modules and even integrating these skills in regular subjects.
Are we preparing young people to be the leaders of tomorrow? No, we prepare them to act as leaders and entrepreneurs today! This starts in the classroom, learn how to bring the real-world into the school.
Mentoring is one of our core strategies to help students start their projects, find out more in this lesson.