What is PhilTech Entrepreneurship Academy?

PhilTech Entrepreneurship Academy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PhilTech Enterprises is a digital education start-up that mainly focuses on delivering business modules which are exclusively designed and developed to inform, educate and equip start-up founders throughout their entrepreneurial journey.  For that specific reason, we have partnered with some of the most prolific digital entrepreneurs and renowned curriculum designers to deliver premium online short courses with an exceptional focus on the most critical concepts related to entrepreneurship. Plus, at the end of each short course, all entrepreneurs obtain actual business skills that are certified by our Board of Directors, which is comprised of savvy entrepreneurs.

 

We boost the economy by equipping entrepreneurs to create more sustainable job opportunities

It is our revelation that Africa will only get stronger from an economic point of view if the next generation of entrepreneurs start building businesses that focus on sustainability, rather than profit alone. To achieve this futuristic vision, we offer a blended learning approach to entrepreneurs aspiring to take their business ventures to the next level. We are all about equipping entrepreneurs to develop frameworks that help them run their start-ups more effectively. That is why we ensure to constantly design business courses that deliver verifiable leadership skills and competencies, which can be implemented and integrated into business models in order to re-engineer business processes.

So far, over 90% of PhilTech Entrepreneurship Academy’s Alumni are running successful companies with annual turnovers exceeding R1 000, 000.00. This is a powerful illustration of the necessity for aspiring entrepreneurs to obtain practical business skills and mentorship sessions with savvy entrepreneurs. Our network of entrepreneurs creates a dynamic platform of exchange between our currently enrolled entrepreneurs and successful business owners who partnered with us to mentor each start-up founder who takes our courses online.     

 

How it all started?

In November 2016, serial entrepreneur Michael C. Fanning received a devastating news on the phone from his then business partner Erouane Langard Okenkali, who was visiting family in Washington DC. The news was that their start-up company, which they had invested all their money into had gone bankrupt and they both ended up without any financial leverage. Upon his return to Cape Town from the United States, Erouane explained the details of their situation to Michael, as he was in charge of all the accounts and managed most financial transaction on behalf of the firm.

In December 2016, they closed the company as they could no longer afford to maintain their IT infrastructure, which consequently resulted in their partnership being abruptly ended after 7 years of fruitful collaboration. They had lost everything; mainly because they lacked guidance and mentorship from experienced business owners who could have help them prevent the bankruptcy. At this stage they went their separate ways but remained great friends until today.

In February 2017, Michael C. Fanning quit all aspirations to ever start a business again and rather chose to serve the less privileged as a full-time intern (volunteer) at Hillsong Africa Foundation, a local NPO that helps build the South African nation through sustainable initiatives such as Accelerate Centres, which is the project he was part of. In fact, Accelerate Centres is a project that aims to educate, equip and employ its participants, who predominantly come from impoverished and economically weakened areas.   

However, a few months after volunteering and consistently journeying with Accelerate Centres’ participants, Michael C. Fanning realized that quite a few of them had the ambition to start their own businesses but did not know where to start. He started gathering fellow volunteers and began to brainstorm ideas on how he could use his extensive entrepreneurial knowledge to help others achieve business success. They called the project ‘The PhilTech Group’, which was a group of like-minded people who was dedicated to empower the less privileged to set up and run their own business under Michael’s leadership.

After a failed attempt to register The PhilTech Group as an NPO in August 2017, the organization was later on renamed PhilTech Enterprises and finally got incorporated as a private company in May 2018. And by June 2018, PhilTech Enterprises give birth to PhilTech Entrepreneurship Academy, an online education-based company which aims to deliver business short courses to start-up founders with the sole intent to accelerate the maturity of their entrepreneurial mindsets.

 

Our core values

We are firm believers of the concept of sustainable entrepreneurship within the context the African business ecosystem. We strongly believe that sustainable entrepreneurs are the answer to global social, environmental and economic pressing problems, which their start-up companies have the potential to develop long-term solutions for.

 

Our promise to entrepreneurs and investors

PhilTech Enterprises will ensure that all entrepreneurs enrolled at the Entrepreneurship Academy get the best training to equip them to face the daily challenges of being a successful business owner. Our entrepreneurship curriculum builds the confidence of business owners in such a way that they can boldly pitch their ideas to savvy investors and raise adequate seed capitals to get their start-ups to the next level.

We help your business achieve its strategic goals and stand out from the competition.