EPIC SOLUTIONS

transforming lives through business

VISION

Many people are poor or marginalized because they don’t have the education or skills required to access formal employment opportunities. We believe that entrepreneurship is a crucial part of the solution to poverty alleviation, job creation, and economic growth as it empowers people to start their own income-generating small businesses, enabling the transformation of individual lives and whole communities.

BUSINESS TRAINING – Epic Journey

We have named it Epic Journey and the theme is going on a business trip and learning what you need to start and run your own business. We have kept the style of learning to be analog and interactive, using workshops and case studies, exercises, and teamwork for the trainees to learn in a way that is fresh and fun.

We provide business training in local community venues and ongoing coaching as the graduates start their own businesses. This unique training experience is used to reach poverty-stricken communities so that they can grasp the basics of business.

Through the interactive and experience-based EPIC JOURNEY, trainees experience real market conditions in the training room with the following learning areas and outcomes:

DAY 1 – Different Types of Businesses; Business Cycle; Budgeting; Types of expenses

DAY 2 – Managing Cash Flow; Basic Record-keeping; Debt and Interest; Gross and Net Profit; Re-investing profit

DAY 3 – Understanding the Marketplace; Product, Price and Profit; Managing Risk

DAY 4 – The Marketing Mix; Unpacking Promotions; Simple Business Plan

DAY 5 – Re-visit the Business Plan and Marketing mix; Negotiation and Contracts

DAY 6 – Innovation & How to Generate Business Ideas in a community development context

DAY 7 – Community development; Cooperatives; Saving groups; ECTG’s

PRACTICAL between Days 4 & 5, trainees receive a small loan and spend 10-14 days starting and running their own small business. This is mandatory to graduate and aims to unlock and teach critical entrepreneurial principles.

PLAN AND LAUNCH PROGRAMME (PALP)

This course is a follow-on from our Business Training, providing assistance and coaching to conceptualize, plan and write a thorough, robust, realistic business plan. Topics are introduced in an interactive workshop environment after which participants apply the principles to the business plan they are writing.

Workshop topics include idea generation, innovation techniques, new product development, understanding the competition, and developing a powerful marketing mix.

ECONOMIC COMMUNITY

TRANSFORMATION GROUPS (ECTG)

The principal aim of ECTGs is to journey more closely with our graduates over a longer time horizon to bring powerless and vulnerable individuals into a group that provides encouragement, participation, creativity, affinity, mutual trust, accountability, and responsibility. The vision is that an ECTG will form into a vibrant community that has restored hope, take ownership of their situation and use their combined skills, resources and influence to identify and implement projects or initiatives that will result in job creation, economic upliftment, empowerment, financial independence and freedom.

THALITA

The training opened my mind and taught me the way to run my business and to save money. I saw an increase in my business because of this training.