Melodi Botha

The practical application of an entrepreneurial performance training model in South Africa

Purpose – This paper sets out to apply practically the constructs of the entrepreneurial performance training model to three different training interventions, known as the business start‐up, basic entrepreneurship, and advanced entrepreneurship programmes. Furthermore, the paper aims to measure the business performance indicators and skills transfer that took place after the training interventions.Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative research was conducted, using three validated research questionnaires. The research design consists of a pre‐test, post‐test and post‐post test (ten weeks after the training interventions took place). Factor analysis was done, descriptive statistics arising from opinions and expressions are presented and statistical tests such as the Chi‐square test and ANOVA provide inferential statistics.Findings – The business performance indicators improved for all three training groups after they attended the training interventions. Furthermore, it was proved that skills transfer t...

Entrepreneurship education: Enhancing or discouraging graduate start-up at the University of Pretoria

ABSTRACT In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of BCom Entrepreneurship graduates, as well as a control group to determine whether the exposure to entrepreneurship education can enhance actual business start-up. Information was collected on how they experienced the learning approaches, and the value which they had derived from the degree. This was done as a case study at the University of Pretoria. More entrepreneurship graduates started businesses than the control group. Findings of the various constraints to start-up − of the entrepreneurship graduates’ group − focused on the lack of a viable business idea and know-how, as compared with the other graduate groups, who indicated that fear of failure and aversion to taking risks were their main constraints. The entrepreneurship graduates were less risk averse than the control group.

The Virtual Institute for Afrikaans and the Afrikaans community's market needs

The Virtual Institute for Afrikaans and the Afrikaans communitys market needs The Virtual Institute for Afrikaans (VivA) is a research institute and service provider for Afrikaans in digital contexts. It is a registered non-profit company, with the Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging (ATKV), North-West University (NWU), Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK), and Trust vir Afrikaanse Onderwys (TAO) as its founding members. In order to make informed choices regarding VivAs product and service offering, mixed method research was conducted to determine shortcomings in the Afrikaans offering of digital language products. For purposes of the quantitative research, an online questionnaire was completed by 319 respondents (demographic representation of mostly white, mother-tongue speakers of Afrikaans between the ages of 30 and 65), while a focus group with ten respondents (mostly white, mother-tongue speakers of Afrikaans between 15 and 62) was used to gather qualitative information. The focus group session was recorded, transcribed, coded and then analysed to derive seven key themes that are associated with VivA. One of the key findings is that a large part of the Afrikaans users in this sample did not know of the existence of the Afrikaans Wiktionary and Wikipedia. This finding directed VivAs priorities in other directions, although it will keep on exploring ideas and methods to change this perception.It was also clear that Afrikaans users have a need for four specific Afrikaans electronic aids, namely an online/mobile version of the Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreels (Afrikaans Word-list and Spelling Rules); an Afrikaans grammar checker; a terminology bank; and automatictranslation tools. Despite the fact that the majority of respondents had a fairly negative experience with regard to automatic translation assistance, it was found that a significant number of respondents are still positive about it, and have a strong need for such a high-quality product. On the basis of this research, the needs of the Afrikaans community related to language products and services were determined, and various products and services were introduced in order to meet these identified needs. Hence, VivAs initial products and services offering includes:a dictionary portal (where users can access various free and commercial dictionaries online, as well as via an online and offline Android and iOS app); grammar portal (where users, especially international researchers, can access extensive information about the phonology, morphology and syntax of Afrikaans, presented comparatively with Dutch and Frisian as part of the international Taalportaal project); language advice portal (where users can get telephonic and online answers to language-related questions from a professional language advisor); corpus portal (where users can do online corpus queries in a large and growing collection of written and transcribed spoken Afrikaans corpora); and information portal (with access to a blog, competitions, etcetera). The article concludes with an overview of potential future research and development topics, including a motivation for the need for regular technology audits.