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02 January 2024 | Story Igno van Niekerk | Photo Igno van Niekerk
Tafadzwa Maramura
Dr Tafadzwa Maramura participated in a study on couplepreneurs and ways in which they influence their children to become better entrepreneurs.

After years of hard work, the lonely entrepreneur rode off into the sunset. No family. No one to share the lived experience with. The entrepreneurial journey can be a recipe for loneliness. However, it does not have to be, you can enjoy an entrepreneurial family that leaves a legacy.

Dr Tafadzwa C Maramura, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Administration and Management at the UFS participated in a study with Drs Eugine Maziriri (University of Johannesburg), Miston Mapuranga (University of Pretoria), Brighton Nyagadza (Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences) on couplepreneurs and ways in which they influence their children to become better entrepreneurs. The interinstitutional study drew on several fields of expertise and was a fresh addition to the research on access to water that Dr Maramura is doing.

Couplepreneurship is a concept that explains businesses owned and operated by married and/or cohabiting couples. According to Dr Maramura: “The development of couplepreneurship in South Africa as an emerging economy has led to increasing interest in the study of how kids are inspired and/or influenced by their parents towards starting their own and to participate in the already existing family enterprises.”

Nurturing entrepreneurial potential

Couplepreneurs are in a great position to raise kidpreneurs. Who better to listen to the heroic stories of how mom and dad started off with a big dream, growth mindsets, and steadfast commitment to building their business than their offspring? Like teaching a person how to fish rather than giving them fish, couplepreneurs do not hand their kids a business, they teach them how to run and grow a business.

Dr Maramura believes that nurturing an entrepreneurial potential is the result of “encouraging resilience, adaptability, and a willingness to embrace failure, even as a learning opportunity”. Combine this with an environment that promotes creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, and you have the recipe for a kidpreneur to become an entrepreneur. Now add more ingredients: parents who offer support, mentorship, and exposure to diverse experiences. Put it in the heated oven called business – and you have created the meal all entrepreneurs crave: Legacy.

News Archive

A journey into self-discovery
2011-08-17

Sandy Little

The launch of the film and book Africa meets Africa: Pathways through the Interior at our university was a huge success.

It forms part of the The Africa meets Africa Project that is known for making connections between knowledge systems in pursuit of learning. It integrates amongst others beadwork and weaving with mathematics.

The film takes one through the Free State and some parts of the Northern Cape. The two actors, Mr Lerato Mokhitli and Ms Sandy Little, are both art students at Kovsies. During the trip they reveal some historic events not known to all. Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector, said: “Our history is a lot more complex and interesting than current texts allow. Much of what happened laid the foundations for trauma, and triumph is poorly understood. More so, is the history of the ordinary.”

The film and book are funded by National Heritage Council and FirstRand. It was launched in other provinces, among them KwaZulu-Natal. The Africa meets Africa Project aims to use the book in the Free State and Northern Cape in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase for educators and university students.

Prof. Jansen furthermore said: “I would definitely recommend the book with some additions, such as representation of excluded cultures. This would include white ethnographic histories and cultures and the intersections across black/white, African/European histories. I would also make the subject history compulsory to ensure that children would be exposed to our complex history.”

Ms Moipone Kabaoe, a third-year B.Soc.Sc. student at UFS, said: “The film was very informative and clarified some things. I also believe the actors have actually grown from the experience and they did a great job.”

Mrs Anna Mokhitli was ecstatic at the launch, as any proud mother would be. “I knew they were working so hard, but I never thought it would be something this big,” she said. Ms Helene Smuts, Director of Africa meets Africa, said: “You cannot learn until you start with what you know. This is the journey we took; now you must take your own.”
 

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