Eight students from the University of Pretoria (UP) recently qualified for the second phase of the Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Fellowship on Entrepreneurship, a programme that gives African students the opportunity to improve their entrepreneurial skills using a structured approach to develop their ideas into profitable businesses.

The fellowship arose out of a partnership between the Mastercard Foundation and Queen’s University’s Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre (DDQIC). The DDQIC is Canada’s premiere university entrepreneurship and innovation centre, which offers fellows a structured method characterised by four phases – Explore, Ignite and Launch – that are focused on turning their idea, technology or inspiration into functioning ventures.

This exciting opportunity is available to Mastercard Foundation Scholars and all UP students who wish to pursue entrepreneurship as a career prospect.

“This opportunity showcases the calibre and talent of not only Mastercard Foundation Scholars but the entire student community at the University of Pretoria,” says Dr Grace Ramafi, programme manager of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme in UP’s Department for Education Innovation.

The fellowship began in 2020 and since its inception, a number of UP students have participated in it, with two Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme students reaching the fellowship phase. Over 1 500 students participated in the Explore Entrepreneurship phase of the programme and of those, 54 students were from UP. During this phase, candidates were introduced to a curated list of online entrepreneurship courses and work which they had to complete. Once the candidates showed their commitment to the entrepreneurship process and completed the coursework, they were selected to move on to the next phase.

Eight of the 220 students that moved on to the Ignite Entrepreneurship phase were from UP. During this second phase, candidates will continue to go through additional online entrepreneurship courses, adding to the knowledge they gained in the first phase. At the end of this phase, they will pitch their ideas, competing for the fellowship, which will be awarded to those that come up with the most advanced and promising business ideas. The Ignite Entrepreneurship phase will end at the beginning of May before the selection for the four-month fellowship takes place.

The fellows will benefit from an online version of DDQIC’s QyourVenture, an eight-month accelerator programme that provides access to the Discipline Entrepreneurship Toolbox for five months. This is an online entrepreneurship training programme with 24 steps developed by the Martin Trust Centre for MIT Entrepreneurship. The fellow will also get access to incubation support for three months and be onboarded into a company creation process with access to mentorship and coaching from DDQIC’s network. They will compete to win seed funding grants from DDQIC’s network of investors.

“The Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Fellowship on Entrepreneurship and UP’s vision are completely aligned,” Dr Ramafi said. UP’s vision is to be recognised internationally for developing people, creating knowledge and making a difference locally and globally, and Dr Ramafi believes that these are the same values that the fellowship seeks to achieve.

Given the current unemployment rate in South Africa and Africa at large, the programme places candidates in a better position to create businesses that will create employment opportunities for other young graduates.

“The programme is focused on enhancing and supporting graduate employability, which advances African leadership by producing well-rounded graduates who are motivated to give back to their communities,” Dr Ramafi added.