About

Entrepreneur Start-Up Resources:

This site is a place for collecting and organizing useful tools and resources that can be used to help set up and structure a business in Africa.

As the site develops you can find the following:

- Entrepreneur web sites providing web-based publication and business tools for entrepreneurs.

- Start-up kits and Guidebooks

- Generating Ideas: Compilation of experts’ best advice on how you can tap a gusher of creative juices at your company

- Market Evaluation

- Financing

- Market and Sales

- Building Teams

ICT for Entrepreneurship – Developing a Curriculum

I am interested in developing a curriculum dedicated to ICT for Entrepreneurship in Africa. So entrepreneurs can make better use of mobile and Internet as business tools.

Introduction

Entrepreneurs are increasingly recognized as an important key to economic development. An increasing body of research argues that entrepreneurs, and their small to medium size enterprises, hold great potential for the continent’s continued advancement. Entrepreneurs are vital to building a healthy and stable society. They help to create an important middle class and are an invaluable source of jobs, tax revenue, foreign currency and a number of tertiary benefits.

Unfortunately, Africa’s entrepreneur remains relatively unconnected when compared to other parts of the world. At the same time, their social and economic contribution is too often underestimated by government bodies, banks, investors, equity partners, and related institutions that could otherwise assist them in the development of their business. Given this context the African entrepreneur is too often left to navigate alone.

Knowledge is power. Information is critical in running a business in today’s world. ICTs can act as an empowering agent in learning to navigate and increasingly complex and interconnected marketplace. The objective of this project is to create and share the knowledge needed to make use of the tools now freely available on the Internet. In this way, the entrepreneur is in a better position to engage ICTs as a means of collecting, organizing and distributing data and information needed to push forward their business.

The aim of the ICT for Entrepreneurship program is to develop an innovative curriculum needed to connect entrepreneurs with the digital market place.

Curriculum
The curriculum will consist of the following modules.

•    Better understand business operations in both a national and international context. How to use ICTs to explore and open new markets.

•    Improve and upgrade digital communication skills, online presentation, social networking, information protocol and digital documentation.

•    Navigate the Internet for the tools and services that can be used to further the development of local businesses. Overview of the Internet players, trends analysis and relevant information resources.

•    The entrepreneur’s toolbox. A module dedicated to the use of new, free and widely used digital tools. Maximize the use of the mobile and internet to establish an efficient receipts and payment system, make phone calls by Voice over IP (VOIP) channel and send/receive fax by Fax over IP channel (FOIP)

•    Explore programs and services that improve business operations, enable efficient logistics, distribution and delivery systems.

•    Overview and training of the digital tools that further enable the administration and record keeping process.

Based on extensive feedback, a questionnaire, select interviews and group workshop, the curriculum will be updated and refreshed.