South Africa’s leading digital learning game that seeks to grow an entrepreneurial mindset among school going children using gamification.
For now, participants are urged to sit tight till 11 October when the top learners and schools will be announced at a special awards evening in Johannesburg. AGEC was designed to develop a culture of entrepreneurship in the minds of grades 8-12 using digital learning. For the 2018 season, entry participation doubled from 4 000 in 2017 to more than 8 000 in 2018, and more than 600 schools across the country have participated in this year’s six-week Challenge, which culminated last week.
AGEC inspires learners to consider how they can influence change in their community, their country and the world by completing weekly micro-challenges that exposed them to a variety of entrepreneurial skills, which were then applied to real-world scenarios. During weeks one to three, learners began their entrepreneurial journey by exploring local challenges and opportunities in the areas of social entrepreneurship, transport and healthcare. In weeks four to six the competition shifted focus to global themes of climate change, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology.
“The competition aims to directly address unemployment in South Africa, using entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking as a vehicle for change. Entrepreneurship has the power to lift South Africa from the clutches of joblessness, to get there is going to take work, and there is no better place to start than with our youth,” says Anthony Selley, Head of Gameplay for the AGEC.
He explains that the web browser and mobile app-based game was built to tackle the demands of 21st century education, and incorporates a mixture of self-development and cash-prize incentives to drive competition. Further, it uses gamification to sustain and grow engagement and represents a unique style of digital-learning that places South Africa at the forefront of global initiatives to develop entrepreneurial thinking among youth.
AGEC was established by long-term investment company Allan Gray and developed by the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation – a Foundation committed to investing in the education and development of individuals with entrepreneurial potential in Southern Africa for the past ten years. The competition focussed on developing five overarching ‘habits of thought’, which have been identified through academic research as key components of an entrepreneurial mindset. These include: intellectual imagination (innovation); personal initiative (initiative); courageous commitment (resilience); spirit of significance (change maker) and achievement excellence (drive).
“The micro challenges were designed to equip learners with the skills and mindset to think more entrepreneurially, whether they choose to pursue an entrepreneurial journey or not. Thinking more innovatively and adopting an entrepreneurial mindset can be beneficial to learners entering any work environment, as well as to those wanting to start their own businesses one day. It’s for this reason that businesses need to continuously innovate to survive, and it is those that think like entrepreneurs who will be at the forefront of that innovation,” Selley says.
The top performing learners and their respective schools now eagerly await the pinnacle #AGEC18 Awards Evening in Johannesburg on October 11th where the grand-prize winners of an all-expenses paid 10-day innovation tour to Silicon Valley, USA will be announced, alongside the ranking of South Africa’s most entrepreneurially-minded schools. Amongst those attending the prestigious Awards Evening will be the top 20 performing learners and high-schools from across the country, which is announced in no particular order below:
Top 20 Performing High Schools (No Particular Order) | Top 20 Performing Learners (No Particular Order) |
• Kitsong High School • Theodor Herzl High School • Horizon International High School • Generation Schools Hermanus • Glenwood House • Crawford College La Lucia • Bishops Diocesan College • Durban Girls’ High School • Sutherland High School • Bridge House School • Maris Stella • Kloof High School • Somerset College • Curro Hazeldean • Rustenburg Girls’ High School • Jeppe High School for Girls • Crawford College North Coast • Eden College Durban • Westville Girls’ High School • Reddam House Constantia | • Sabrina Isaac • Lesli Jane Williams • Sam McQuirk • Malaika Maharaj • Lesedi Mnguni • Emihle Tshangana • Aphile Shabalala • Sara Gopal • Michael Kotze • Zuhayr khan • Michael Dunlop • Jacquiline Isaac • Tahir Omar Carrim • Sachiel Subramoney • Kai Lemel • Saheel Rajnarain • Nina Lewis • Sachin Mohan • Shriyaa Sooklal • Kai Parsons |
Selley says he applauds the efforts of all the schools, teachers and learners involved in the competition in 2018, explaining how: “the kids and the teachers have poured blood, sweat and tears into the competition and we can’t wait to celebrate their success at our Awards Evening in October.”