Capacity building in small business management for new literates through action research

This article reports on a community engagement project by the University of South Africa’s Department of Adult Basic Education to address the challenges faced by new literates in establishing and managing projects and small businesses. The main objective of the article was to assess how capacity and...

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Main Author: Akwasi Arko-Achemfuor
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2019-01-01
Series:Cogent Education
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2019.1643443
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author Akwasi Arko-Achemfuor
author_facet Akwasi Arko-Achemfuor
author_sort Akwasi Arko-Achemfuor
collection DOAJ
description This article reports on a community engagement project by the University of South Africa’s Department of Adult Basic Education to address the challenges faced by new literates in establishing and managing projects and small businesses. The main objective of the article was to assess how capacity and training workshops have been used as tools to empower individuals and groups who have just completed basic education to start and run successful business. In assessing the impact of the Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Campaign (KMLC) on the lives of graduates, it came to the attention of the Department that the graduates have taken initiatives to start SMMEs and other projects in their communities but the lack of business and project management skills was causing failures in a number of the initiatives. The qualitative method of enquiry using multiple case studies was applied in the article. The main instruments applied for data collection were individual and focus group interviews and observations. The initial data collection in three provinces in 2013 served as the baseline where the requests were made and the need analysis conducted. The finding indicates that the interventions have now helped the graduates to start and run SMMEs effectively, access markets for their products, form networks, register individual businesses and cooperatives and writing funding proposals among other skills. The articles recommend for the initiative to be rolled out in all the other provinces as it has proven to be successful in the areas it has been piloted.
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spelling doaj.art-405055ec30844efcbd14f7c718b92a3c2023-09-03T10:21:51ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Education2331-186X2019-01-016110.1080/2331186X.2019.16434431643443Capacity building in small business management for new literates through action researchAkwasi Arko-Achemfuor0University of South AfricaThis article reports on a community engagement project by the University of South Africa’s Department of Adult Basic Education to address the challenges faced by new literates in establishing and managing projects and small businesses. The main objective of the article was to assess how capacity and training workshops have been used as tools to empower individuals and groups who have just completed basic education to start and run successful business. In assessing the impact of the Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Campaign (KMLC) on the lives of graduates, it came to the attention of the Department that the graduates have taken initiatives to start SMMEs and other projects in their communities but the lack of business and project management skills was causing failures in a number of the initiatives. The qualitative method of enquiry using multiple case studies was applied in the article. The main instruments applied for data collection were individual and focus group interviews and observations. The initial data collection in three provinces in 2013 served as the baseline where the requests were made and the need analysis conducted. The finding indicates that the interventions have now helped the graduates to start and run SMMEs effectively, access markets for their products, form networks, register individual businesses and cooperatives and writing funding proposals among other skills. The articles recommend for the initiative to be rolled out in all the other provinces as it has proven to be successful in the areas it has been piloted.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2019.1643443developmenteducationentrepreneurshipinterventiontraining
spellingShingle Akwasi Arko-Achemfuor
Capacity building in small business management for new literates through action research
Cogent Education
development
education
entrepreneurship
intervention
training
title Capacity building in small business management for new literates through action research
title_full Capacity building in small business management for new literates through action research
title_fullStr Capacity building in small business management for new literates through action research
title_full_unstemmed Capacity building in small business management for new literates through action research
title_short Capacity building in small business management for new literates through action research
title_sort capacity building in small business management for new literates through action research
topic development
education
entrepreneurship
intervention
training
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2019.1643443
work_keys_str_mv AT akwasiarkoachemfuor capacitybuildinginsmallbusinessmanagementfornewliteratesthroughactionresearch