• Academic Institution

Regional and Local Economic Development Initiative

After a successful pilot programme funded by Gijima KZN, The Regional and Local Economic Development (LED) Initiative was launched early in 2012. The initiative is fully funded and supported by the KwaZulu-Natal Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA). The initiative includes a coordinated and integrated programme of teaching, learning and applied research in LED. Champions Programme as one of its Development programmes, aimed to attract and capacitate social entrepreneurs within KZN. This is an executive programme to assist the social entrepreneurs that are looking for an opportunity to not only develop their leadership capacity but also advance their knowledge, understanding and individual roles of initiating and engaging in LED

  • Stages of Support

    • Idea
    • Start-up
    • Early
    • Growth
    • Mature

  • Nonfinancial support delivery mechanism

    • Mentoring
    • Classroom / seminar training
    • Online / mobile
    • Cohort or group support
    • Competitions / prizes
    • Peer to Peer / Network-based Support

  • Nonfinancial Support

    • Access to networks and partners
    • Marketing support or market research
    • Building HR capacity
    • Business strategy and planning
    • Ideation
    • Legal, accounting, other office services
    • Sector development
    • Governance structure
    • Media exposure

  • Intervention Type

    • Conduct research on the sector
    • Promote and educate about entrepreneurship

  • Sectors of Focus

    • Sector agnostic

  • Stakeholder or Business Model Focus

    • Base of the pyramid
    • Social enterprise
    • Accessibility
    • Advocacy
    • Rural communities
    • Resiliency / climate change
    • Minority or previously excluded population

  • Impact objectives

    • Access to education
    • Agricultural productivity
    • Capacity building
    • Community development
    • Employment generation
    • Food security and nutrition
    • Income/productivity growth
    • Sustainable energy
    • Access to information
    • Equality and empowerment
    • Access to financial services
    • Access to energy
    • Pollution prevention and waste management

  • Verticals

    • AgTech
    • E-commerce
    • CleanTech
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