Business Essentials for Entrepreneurs

Course Overview/Description: The course is designed to provide potential, start-up and existing entrepreneurs with the necessary tools and confidence to build sustainable, profitable businesses. To run successful businesses, entrepreneurs need to understand the context in which they operate in and they also need to learn basic business skills to function in a competitive business environment.

This course includes:

• An introduction to entrepreneurship;
• The basic business skills required by an entrepreneur;
• Understanding small business ownership in South Africa;
• Using Small business analysis tools.

 

STUDENT GUIDE

Week	Day	Chapter	Chapter Title	Reading	Reading Title	MCQ
1	1	1	Introduction to Entrepreneurship	1	What is an Entrepreneur?	1-2
	2	2	Basic business skills	1	Introduction to Basic Business Skills
	3	2		2	Numeric and Basic Financial Management Skills
	4	2		3	Administration Skills
	5	2		4	Stock Control Skills
2	6	2		5	Marketing Skills
	7	2		6	Customer Service and Communication  Skills
	8	2		7	Human Resource Management Skills
	9	3	Small business ownership in South Africa	1	Introduction to Small Business ownership in South Africa	3-8
	10	3		2	Defining Business size in SA
3	11	3		3	Types of Companies in South Africa
	12	3		4	Trends in Small Businesses in South Africa
	13	3		5	Key Challenges for Small Businesses in South Africa
	14	3		6	Family-owned Small Businesses in South Africa
	15	4	Analysing a Small Business	1	Business Analysis Tools	9-15
4	16	4		2	Michael Porter’s 5 Forces Business Strategy Model
	17	4		3	Introduction to the PESTLE Business Analysis Tool
	18	4		4	Introduction to the SWOT Analysis Tool
	19	4		5	Using the SWOT Analysis: Strengths (internal)
5	20	4		6	Using the SWOT Analysis: Weaknesses (internal)
	21	4		7	Using the SWOT Analysis: Opportunities (external)
	22	4		8	Using the SWOT Analysis: Threats (external)
	23	4		9	Advantages of Owning a Small Business in South Africa
	24	4		10	Disadvantages of Owning a Small Business in South Africa
6	25	4		11	Resources available to Entrepreneurs in South Africa Part 1
	26	4		12	Resources available to Entrepreneurs in South Africa Part 2
	27	4		13	Resources available to Entrepreneurs in South Africa Part 3
	28	4		14	Essential Qualities for Entrepreneurial Leadership
7	29	5	Conclusion	1	Concluding Notes

 

Summary

Chapter 1     Introduction to Entrepreneurship (1 Reading)

Chapter 2     Basic business skills (7 Readings)

Chapter 3     Small business ownership in South Africa (6 Readings)

Chapter 4     Analysing your business (15 Readings)

Chapter 5     Concluding the Topic (1 Reading)

Total number of Readings = 30