Essential Entrepreneurial Skills

Course Overview

Are you an aspiring entrepreneur who wants to actively pursue a particular business venture? This introductory business short course will help you develop essential entrepreneurial skills so you can successfully ideate, plan and start a business. 

The Essential Entrepreneurial Skills short course will equip you with valuable business knowledge and practical skills to start a business. Whether you are employed or interested in starting your own business, this online course will help you develop entrepreneurial thinking, which can greatly benefit any stage of your career. 

This short course allows you to integrate practical business knowledge, skills and personal mastery within an applied context, while also building confidence and refining your business idea. 

The course starts by introducing various business concepts such as entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, small medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs), the entrepreneurial lifecycle and critical success factors for entrepreneurs. You will learn about tools of business innovation to generate business ideas as the basis of an entrepreneurial venture. Other topics covered include how to evaluate a business idea’s desirability, feasibility and viability.  

Throughout the course, you will practically apply your learnings by creating your own Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition Canvas and business plan for your own business idea. 

The course will show you how to identify and explore strategies to mitigate risk, which can be applied to your own intended business. Learn how to draw up a business model, complete a value proposition and a SWOT analysis for your business.  

You will learn how to use Microsoft Excel to process, analyze and present quantitative and qualitative data and information to support your business plan. Finally, explore the basic principles of project management to ensure a disciplined approach to the implementation of your business plans.  

Is this course for you?

If you want to create and implement business opportunities and become a successful entrepreneur, this course is for you.

What is entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship refers to an individual or a small group of business partners who start a new business. Entrepreneurial skills include the ability and readiness to develop, organize and run a business successfully in order to make a profit.  

Dates and Registration

• Class of 2025 January – March
• Class of 2025 April – June
• Class of 2025 July – September
• Class of 2025 October – December

Short course classes are on demand allowing you to register at any time and move through course content at a time that suits you. Learners will have access to the course for the class period they choose when registering.

Certification

What You’ll Need

• Access to Microsoft Word
• Google Chrome (recommended)
• Stable internet connection

What You’ll Learn

Through course videos, readings and discussions, you will explore the following topics: 

• Introduction to entrepreneurship Orientate to concepts related to entrepreneurship. Examine the entrepreneurial life cycle and examine the critical success factors of entrepreneurs. Self-assess your own entrepreneurial characteristics and explore entrepreneurial skills. Create a personal development plan.
  
• Generating business ideas Spend some time generating business ideas. Ideally, your focus should be on a start-up business you really want to create. Formulate your Business Concept Statement Explore the Business Model Canvas and its benefits and applications.
  
• Business model generation Create your own Business Model Canvas for your business idea based on an in-depth exploration of this particular business model. Using a tool called the Value Proposition Canvas, you will develop the value proposition and customer segments of your business model. Consider the nature of the team you are working with; or whether you need to begin rallying a team around you.
  
• Business model testing Learn about testing the desirability, feasibility and viability of your Business Model Canvas. Begin testing your business model and recording the results. Conduct a SWOT analysis of your business model. Using all of the data you collect, you will then refine your Business Model Canvas.
  
• Mitigating risk Explore drivers of business success and failure. Investigate strategic risks and customer risks and learn how to mitigate them. Perform your own risk review of your business.
• From business model to business plan Using your tested business model, transform it into a business plan, which demonstrates the viability of your business and also your thinking and planning for how you will set up and run your business.

Course Outcomes

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

• Describe core concepts and terminology within the realm of entrepreneurship; the entrepreneurial life cycle and the critical success factors of entrepreneurs. 
• Reflect and gain insight into your personal strengths and development areas. 
• Apply the principles, processes, methods and tools of business innovation to generate possible ideas for a business. 
• Apply the Business Model Canvas technique to illustrate your business model. 
• Develop a Value Proposition Canvas for your intended business. 
• Complete a SWOT analysis for your intended business. 
• Apply desirability, feasibility and viability evaluation processes to assess your business idea. 
• Assess the risks associated with your start-up venture and devise risk mitigation strategies. 
• Develop a business plan to conceptualize and illustrate a viable business idea as a start-up business venture. 

The Team

Our short course developers are expert practitioners. They have been selected for the breadth and depth of experience in their respective disciplines. The team loves sharing their knowledge and online learning expertise to help you get the most out of your learning journey.