- Ipeleng Seiso
Overview of BizSchool
Overview of BizSchool:
The mission of BizSchool is: “To equip young people to enter the world of work with the attitudes, skills and knowledge required to excel and be fulfilled.”
It arose from a desire to facilitate the transition from school to work, and thereby to help address the problem of unemployment and the lack of basic business and financial skills in South Africa’s out of school youth. It was decided to start BizSchool beginning with a pilot programme in November/December 2008 for 2008 Matriculants who had no plans for 2009. 26 Delegates completed the BizSchool programme. Due to the success of the programme a second programme was run in December 2009 for 34 delegates and again in December 2010 with 47 delegates. The December BizSchool Programmes have now become the flagship programme of BizSchool.
1. December BizSchool programmes:
The BizSchool Programme is a programme for matrics who due to academic or financial reasons do not have plans for the year after school. BizSchool addresses this by offering an eight-day programme and three-day camp. The programme assists in:
· Creating a self awareness of their individual skills and talents
· Teaching them basic life skills for entering an adult world,
· Giving them knowledge of career and study opportunities
· Teaching them basic small business and entrepreneurship skills
· Inspiring the participants with hope and encouraging them to dream
· Giving them the knowledge that there is a purpose for each of their lives and to encourage them to take responsibility for their lives.
The BizSchool December Programme costs R3 500 per person. As most of our delegates cannot afford that amount we look for sponsorship to enable the delegates to attend at a reduced fee of R850 per person.
2. BizSchool Alumni Meetings:
In order to keep the delegates motivated during the year we host four BizSchool alumni meetings, which address a variety of topics. The meetings are held on a Friday afternoon from 4pm to 6pm. They are informal with a short presentation and time for discussion and mentoring. During 2009 we had between 10 and 15 delegates attending each session. In 2010 we had between 15 and 20 alumni attending the alumni sessions that also included a formal mentoring session. Each delegate was assigned a mentor and time was allocated during the four alumni sessions for formal mentoring. During 2011 we had over 40 delegates and 25 mentors attending each alumni session.
The dates for the 2012 mentoring programmes are: 02 March, 01 June, 27 July, 26 October. If you would like to meet with and mentor a delegate over the four meetings please do contact us!
3. BizSchool leadership course:
A basic course in leadership including being an effective leader, small group leadership, solving conflict and motivating others was offered in December 2008. The leaders were then small group leaders on the pilot BizSchool programme. The leadership programme was formalised and offered to 2008 Bizschool alumni who wanted to be leaders on the BizSchool 2009 Programme. We accepted 6 alumni for the programme. The 2010 programme accepted 12 BizSchool alumni. The 2011 Programme accepted 18 leaders.
The leadership programme is an integral part of the December programme and creates an opportunity for alumni to give back and to further enhance their personal development skills. The leadership course runs for two days prior to the BizSchool course. The delegates then use all they have learnt in an experiential environment and are leaders on the BizSchool course. They have ongoing mentoring and feedback during the BizSchool course. Once they have completed the leadership programme and the practical component of the December BizSchool programme they receive a certificate in BizSchool leadership.
The 2012 BizSchool leadership programme will take place on the 23rd and 26 November 2012. The BizSchool leadership programme costs R11 000. Please contact us if you would like to sponsor a leader or the BizSchool leadership programme.
4. BizSchool Career Programme:
The BizSchool Career Programme was offered in 2010 to 42 Grade 11 and 12 delegates. In 2011 the programme was offered to 60 Grade 11 and Grade 12 delegates from Ikageng in Soweto. The programme gives career guidance using psychological testing and one on one feedback and personal coaching. Skills are taught to assist delegates in applying for tertiary study, bursaries and or employment. Personal goal setting as well as study skills are included in the programme. The aim of this programme is to give hope, focus and direction for life after grade 12 encouraging the delegates to apply in time for bursaries and further tertiary study and to study hard for their final matric exams. The 2012 Career Programme will be run on the 29th June and the 14th July 2012.The cost of the BizSchool career programme is R800 per person. Please contact us if you would like to sponsor a delegate. We are also always looking for coaches and psychologists to assist with the one on one feedback, please contact us if you are available to help!
5. BizSchool Graduate Programme:
The BizSchool Graduate Programme is a pilot programme that will be run in 2012. It is for delegates who have done some further studies and who are either in their final year of studies or who have completed their studies and are looking to enter the job market. The programme will focus on: entering the job market, looking for a job, preparing a CV, interview skills, excelling in the work environment, mission statement and goal setting, adult life skills including budgeting, tax, finances and an entrepreneurship component. Each delegate will receive a mentor who will mentor them during the three month course as well as for 6 months after the course. The course will run over 3 months possibly with 6 evening sessions and one Saturday. The cost of the course is R3 500 per delegate. We are looking at partnering with companies who would be interested in creating a recruitment pipeline. Please do contact us if this would interest you.
The Vision for BizSchool:
The vision of BizSchool would be to collate and package the above programmes enabling suitable and well-trained BizSchool facilitators and professional volunteers to facilitate the BizSchool programmes at appropriate venues around Johannesburg and South Africa. At all times the quality and standard of the BizSchool programme would be of the utmost importance, ensuring that the students who leave the BizSchool programme have career and life options.
BizSchool aims to build relationships with corporate organisations, creating a pipeline of students/delegates who have completed the BizSchool programmes and who are appropriately trained for leanerships, apprenticeships and entry level jobs as well as building a database of possible bursary opportunities.
In time to come, BizSchool would like to offer a career guidance and mentoring centre with a team of qualified staff who would be able to assist in career guidance, bursary awareness, entrepreneurship, mentoring and adult life skills workshops. Computers would be available for online research and CV creation. Appropriate facilities would be available to run programmes and courses.
Organisational and operational structure of BizSchool:
BizSchool was founded by Jonathan Cook and Sarah Tinsley-Myerscough in 2008. Jonathan Cook is Chairperson of BizSchool. He is Director of the Gordon Institute of Business Science (www.gibs.co.za) and Director of Thornhill (www.thornihill.co.za).
Bontle Mokhuse is BizSchool programme coordinator and manages the day to day administration of BizSchool.
BizSchool is managed by a Steering Committee that meets three times a year compiled of BizSchool alumni and various professional volunteers.
BizSchool relies on a database of professionals who would like to give “something back” to deliver the programme content. In order to ensure that this is of the highest standard and quality, the professionals are given a guideline lesson plan for the lesson they are presenting. They then have to submit their personalised lesson plan prior to delivering the lesson, feedback and constant monitoring is provided during the BizSchool sessions.
The database is regularly updated with professionals who would like to be involved and BizSchool is constantly on the lookout for those who are keen to make a difference. Once off presentations, mentoring, leading of small groups, learnerships, financial donations would all provide perfect opportunities for people to get involved in BizSchool.
Contact us:
For further information on BizSchool please go to www.bizschool.org.za or contact info@bizschool.org.za or phone 011 771 4382
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