Business | Start a successful business with help from GetSmarter

GetSmarter, in conjunction with the University of Cape Town, is pleased to present the exciting new UCT Start and Manage a Small Business course. The 9-week part-time course, which starts on 27 September 2010, is presented entirely online through GetSmarter’s innovative internet training platform.

Many people have excellent ideas for new business ventures, but don’t have the practical skills and knowledge to start and manage a company. This course aims to remedy this by providing extensive hands-on expertise and knowledge about each stage of starting a business – from initial planning to getting financing, dealing with customers and promoting your product or service. The course does not focus on any specific industry, so it is applicable to all types of businesses.

The course is targeted at both prospective business owners – people who need a step-by-step guide to getting their business off the ground – and current owners who want to overhaul their businesses to make them run better and more profitably. Anybody can start a business – as long as you have a good idea and the necessary practical skills, you can do it.

GetSmarter’s advanced and user-friendly learning model provides students with a personal and professional educational experience. Students work through the course material together and receive continuous academic and administrative assistance throughout the course. Each of the 10 modules includes course notes, discussion forums where students interact with one another, an interactive quiz and video lectures to make the course material more engaging. Some of the topics include identifying new business opportunities, making financial decisions, growing your business and marketing it effectively.

One of the biggest benefits of the course is the business community that will grow around it. Through the online forum, students will be able to communicate their business ideas and troubles, network with others in their industry and gain valuable advice from those who have been through the process already. Since the course does not focus on a specific industry, product or service, anybody from any sector can join and benefit from general and detailed advice.

GetSmarter is a specialist online training company that works together with top universities and industry experts to present professional short courses throughout South Africa. It has trained over two thousand students in such diverse topics as labour law, wine evaluation and using the internet – all from the comfort of the students’ homes.

UCT is one of the leading universities in Africa and prides itself on its high academic standard. The Start and Manage a Small Business course is run in conjunction with the Law@Work Department of the Faculty of Law. The course is convened by Gareth Cotten, an entrepreneur who runs his own financial coaching school and who has started several diverse and successful businesses.

The course starts on 27 September 2010, and registrations close on 17 September 2010.

Click here for more information on the UCT Start and Manage a Small Business course.