Abstract
D.Ed.
Entrepreneurs are people who have the ability to see opportunities and create
energy when others fail to see possibilities. They are people who help to
create positive experiences and thriving communities through their ventures.
In the process entrepreneurs would inevitably experience challenging times.
In fact, the challenges they may encounter might lead the average man on the
street to believe that the venture is not viable. One of the differentiating
characteristics of successful entrepreneurs is that they see opportunities and
pursue them in situations where most people believe the odds are against any
success (Bolton & Thompson, 2004:21; Haskins, 1998:2; Kuratko & Hodgetts,
1989:102).
During these challenges, the entrepreneur will find him or herself in a lonely
place, as there are few people who would be able to believe in the success of
the venture, let alone be able to give support and encouragement. This
situation motivated the study into the life stories of the entrepreneur from the
perspective of psychology of education. A study that sets out to establish
which personal qualities these people draw from; to identify the qualities and
characteristics these people have in common and to describe a psychoeducational
model for the development of these qualities.
The primary research goal of this study is the description of a psychoeducational
model for the development of entrepreneurs in Southern Africa.
To achieve this goal, the following objectives were pursued, namely:
a. To gain an understanding of the life story of a successful entrepreneur.
b. To develop a psycho-educational model based on this understanding.
c. To describe guidelines for the operationalisation of the model.
In an undertaking to meet the above objectives, a theory generative,
qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design were
executed. The fieldwork was done by having semi-structured
phenomenological interviews with successful entrepreneurs. The results
obtained from the interviews were analysed and categorised and a literature
study was carried out.