Commercialisation In 2023, students had an assignment to work on a virtual store that provides access to an online marketplace for SMMEs. The students launched the virtual store and gained a lot of interest from SMMEs since it resulted from a needs analysis. The launch was planned and successfully executed by students in the classroom as part of the project. The launch was hosted at the stakeholder’s facilities and received media coverage. This project exposed students to tech business (technology businesses) opportunities, which several other enterprises have been established, and some have started commercialising. Students with brilliant business opportunities are referred to Enactus at the University of Johannesburg, which is a network of student (and potential) entrepreneurs. The organisation’s benefit is that they can network, showcase their enterprises on local and international platforms, and receive funding for their enterprises. Several others have received this funding. Conclusion Entrepreneurial Growth Strategies A & B expose students to entrepreneurship, give them business advisory experience and prepare them for employment. In their study, Ratten and Usmanij (2021) argued that entrepreneurship education transforms communities. Moreover, entrepreneurship education links the latest business skills with academic theory. Image 1: The launch of the online store (Mkhaya Virtual Store) Image 2: The virtual store Image 3: Media presence Image 4: Meeting with the clients (beneficiaries) References Mohale, MA. (2023). Community engagement in higher education: developments after the first institutional audit cycle. South African Journal of Higher Education, 37(1), (pp. 113-130), https://dx.doi.org/10.20853/37-1-5675 Ratten, V., & Usmanij, P. (2021). Entrepreneurship education: Time for a change in research direction? The International Journal of Management Education, 19, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2020.100367 Zahra, A., Mansoreh, KF., Narges, I. (2012). A Study of Teaching Methods in Entrepreneurship Education for Graduate Students. Higher Education Studies, 2(1), http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/hes.v2n1p2 Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching Innovation Projects 2024 119
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