I officially got may acceptance email today for
the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship Advanced course!
I'm excited about how things are going to change with each new session I'll be exposed to. I've already seen a remarkable change in our business since doing the Foundations of Entrepreneurship course. Our monthly revenue has more than doubled since October 2012, and our third staff member started today. It feels a bit like we're moving at warp speed!
I'm predicting that sleep is going to be even more scarce, but as a mom to 3 toddlers I'm no stranger to sleep deprivation... so BRING IT ON!
Here's an excerpt from the email to give you an idea of what I'm in for over the next 12 weeks:
The Advanced Course is run over 12 weeks, 1½ days a week. The full day (08h30 to 17h00) is on a Thursday and the half-day (08h30 to 13h00) is on a Saturday.The course is designed around the concept of entrepreneurship as value creation, and each of the 11 topics falls into one of four value 'tiers' - (1) Creating Value - topics 1 to 3, (2) Communicating Value - topics 4 to 6, (3) Delivering Value - topics 7 to 9, and (4) The Value Creator: the Entrepreneur - topics 10 & 11. Outside experts will be brought in to facilitate the course, and the topics are as follows:
- Developing a Strategy
- Innovation
- Finance
- Marketing
- Sales and Customer Relations
- Communication
- Human Resource Management
- Operations Management
- Governance and Ethics
- Leadership
- Habits of Highly Effective Entrepreneurs
During the final session, Session 12, the entrepreneurs will deliver a 15 minute presentation on their businesses. From these presentations, entrepreneurs will be selected to present in front a group of Virgin MDs, potential investors and other industry experts at a 'Screw It Let's Do It' Day.
The course starts on the 18th of April, and will be blogging about my experiences as I go. Every now and then I'll feature a few short video interviews with course facilitators, and pearls of wisdom from my fellow classmates.
So buckle up and join me for the ride as I blog about this crazy, tiring, eventful and rewarding journey called entrepreneurship.
P.S: If you live in Gauteng and are interested in applying to the Branson Centre follow this link http://www.bransoncentre.org/SouthAfrica/applications.html
After completing your application, you may be called in for a series of interviews. If you get accepted as a Branson Centre Entrepreneur - its a 2 year partnership, consisting of training, mentoring, access to facilities, networking opportunities - all funded by Virgin Unite and Enterprise Development contributions from Corporate South Africa. As an entrepreneur the only cost to you is your time! What are you waiting for?
