But Seriously…

Our Work

Some of our Bridging Year students getting ready for class

So although our blog may seem like we are only doing fun stuff and going on adventures around South Africa, we are working quite hard during the weeks at SAEP.  SAEP has been flooded with interns from universities across the U.S. who have started on lots of different projects, but we are continuing to work in the crèches in the mornings and teach or plan our entrepreneurship lessons for the Bridging Year students in the afternoons. Unfortunately, Allen left for Beijing this week to start an internship there, and the office is a little quieter and is definitely missing the expertise and experience he brought to our lesson plans (as well as the humor).

The Bridging Years (BYs) are a great group of really motivated students- they recently finished high school and entered into this year-long program with SAEP in order to better prepare them for university and help them decide what paths they want to take in life. Entrepreneurship is an important resource for them to learn about because it is applicable to any of their career goals (the group includes several future civil engineers, a geologist, a nurse- among other things).  We meet with all of them once a week and then each of us has a small group of students we meet with once a week. We tend to think of it as a “class” and a “recitation” in the sense of a big class at UNC with small group meetings to reinforce major ideas and conduct more personal activities.

Working on Powerpoint with the BYs

Our first lesson began by defining entrepreneurship and the characteristics that make a good entrepreneur. We looked at some examples of entrepreneurs and discussed the challenges that they faced and the ways they were able to overcome these challenges to meet a need in the community. This is an activity that we do to begin every class now- we start with the “Entrepreneur of the Day.” This is a person who  is from Cape Town and has started a business that meets community needs. Hopefully, these people can serve as inspirations to the students about the possibilities of entrepreneurship. We ultimately decided as a class that entrepreneurship entails seeing a need within the community, finding an innovative solution to that need, and implementing the solution. We ended the lesson with a game of Pictionary (something new to the BYs) to get to know them a little better and have some fun.

Allen teaching

The second lesson focused on teaching markets and included several interactive activities. We started with an activity focused on identifying target markets. Together with the BYs, we compiled a list of demographic characteristics of different target markets. The students were given an advertisement and had to identify the target market of the advertisement and identify which demographic groups were being targeted. Next, we did something similar to a “Coke/Pepsi  Challenge” as a lead-in to our discussion about product differentiation. The students each received two cups of water- one was bottled water and one was tap water- and had to determine which was which. The votes came out pretty close to a tie- and we used this to illustrate that all water is pretty much the same but the perception is different because of product differentiation. We did a lesson on the board to illustrate the different forms of competition- using the example of the different types of public transportation available in Cape Town. The lesson ended by playing a game that anyone who has taken Econ 101 at Carolina- there is a group of buyers and a group of sellers and each group has a reserve price. You have to work to buy and sell in order to find the equilibrium price in the market and create supply and demand curves. It was really interesting to see the way this game turned out- typically at Carolina, the sellers have more control over the price and force the buyers to spend more then the reserve price. Here, it was the opposite. The buyers were incredibly aggressive and would talk the sellers into selling at very low prices. It was a total difference in culture and quite entertaining to see. It was a fun lesson and kept the BYs involved the entire time- something we’ve found challenging to do but most beneficial for the success of the lesson.

During the buying/selling game

The focus of the third lesson was customers, which is crucial to a start-up venture. Unlike a big company that can advertise through billboards, TV, radio, and newspaper, a small company doesn’t have the money to do this and must rely on word-of-mouth and good customer service practices. We acted out some skits of situations between employees and customers. The students were the “entrepreneur” and had to determine how the situation should play out after we showed the context and the problem. They had a good time with this and got lots of laughs out of our acting skills. We did another activity to demonstrate that the only difference between good customer service and bad is the amount of effort (time and cost remain the same). We did this by serving the two tables in the classroom a snack- the one we provided good customer service (asked if they wanted anything to drink, if they wanted seconds, etc.) while just throwing the snacks on the table to the other group (this really set them off!). We talked about reactions and though a bit exaggerated, the example was effective. Statistically, a customer shares a bad experience with 10 other people, but shares a good experience with 3 other people, so this was important to emphasize.

Reppin some national champions gear

Our most recent lesson was last Thursday, and though it was a little less interactive, it turned out really well. We talked about financing a business and introduced the BYs to the idea of microfinance, a concept that is not wide spread here. We used the example of a shoe repair business and discussed all the costs, the different types of costs, and the different means of financing. We talked about social entrepreneurship and the consideration of the environment in business. To consider social needs and entrepreneurial solutions, we had the BYs generate a list of needs in the townships, and each of them were assigned a need that they had to find a solution for using entrepreneurship. This was the best activity we have done so far and resulted in some AMAZING ideas. We are going to develop one of the ideas further and develop a business plan around the idea to illustrate to the BYs what goes into a business plan. We’re really excited about it and hope that maybe ideas can be put into practice eventually.

In our small groups, we taught the BYs how to use PowerPoint by having them use PowerPoint to market a product to investors. Our example product that we presented to them was the Snuggie, which I think confused the BYs because they couldn’t tell if we were serious or kidding about the blanket with sleeves. PowerPoint is such a useful skill for them to have- even if they don’t use it for entrepreneurial reasons- and presentation skills are also key. A lot of the students speak really softly and are shy at first, so this was a good confidence booster and fun activity for them to do.

We’re getting ready for lessons in two weeks from now and four weeks from now, when we will be teaching every day. Lots of planning and preparation work to be done, and we are trying to secure some speakers as well.

We go out to the crèches twice a week and have been working on various projects at each crèche. Russell is working to help build a new building for one of his crèches, while Alex is helping one of the principals apply for government subsidies. Hannah’s immune system is recovering from exposure to germs at the crèches, but she has been working on finances for her crèche principal. In doing so, Hannah has spent a lot of time getting to know the principal and hear her stories about how and why she started the crèche. Ainslie has served as a crèche cook and assisted in classrooms, but will be working with one of the principals on her monthly finances and donations next week. We all love playing with the kids during free time at the crèches- though we come back to the office exhausted in the afternoons.

Another big project we have been working on is an alternative gift market for SAEP. SAEP has wanted to put together an alternative gift market to make donating more interactive and user friendly, but did not have the funds to put towards this project. We raised money for a donation to SAEP before we left, and are going to use some of the funding to start the alternative gift market. Our vision is that the site will be divided by the different programs SAEP has and different products you can buy for that program with your donation (i.e., food for children at a crèche). Russell is also making videos about each program to put on the site as an advertisement for the program and to give viewers a real taste of what SAEP does. In return, the donor will receive a thank you card with a poem or story written by a Bridging Year student. This has involved meeting with all of the different program directors at SAEP to determine their needs and how we can use the website to help them. It should turn out really well and be sure to look for it soon at www.saep.org !

We’re busy with work and looking forward to a quiet weekend in Observatory. We’re planning a braai (barbecue) tonight to celebrate it being Friday and the nice weather.  Some of us are headed to Guguletu, another township, tomorrow. Should be fun before we get back to a busy week of work next week on Monday…