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About Us

The Entrepreneurial Planning Institute (EPI) is a non-profit organisation drawing on over a century of combined experience in developing & implementing ESD projects & entrepreneurship programmes in South Africa.

The Institute was conceived in 2015 by a hand-full of South African ESD Practitioners, some whom have been involved in developing small businesses since the late 80s. They were motivated by a wish to contribute to improving the quality of service delivery offered through hundreds of new ESD Programmes & to cover gaps left in the fast-evolving entrepreneurship support & small supplier development eco-system.

The EPI was registered in 2016 as a Non-Profit Company with the mission to develop impactful & meaningful approaches to Enterprise & Supplier Development, and to contribute to increasing the capacity offered through the entrepreneurship support eco-system in Southern Africa.

CONTACT US
info@the-epi.org | +27 21 685 4848

What We Do

We focus on increasing the quality of service delivery offered by ESD Practitioners and reaching sectors which lag behind with integration into industry value chains. Our approach is based on combining international best practice in small business development with locally validated entrepreneurship support practice, delivered through three focus areas:

Non-Urban ESD

The needs of non-urban small businesses are distinctly different from those in urban areas. This also largely applies to woman entrepreneurs. We present ESD programmes for these contexts; and we work closely with partners in delivering such programmes.

Tools & Material

We create and refine planning, management and productivity tools, and we develop learning materials and platforms, specifically with the needs in mind of small business owners and startup entrepreneurs, and those initiatives supporting them.

Practitioner Support

The quality and impact of ESD programmes are directly linked to the abilities of the coaches, mentors, facilitators, trainers and consultants delivering the programmes. We offer coaching, peer-support and NQF-aligned training to these practitioners.

Directors & Team

Collectively our team has more than 100 years experience in ESD — some since the late 80s. We cover a range of competencies for delivery of incubation, acceleration, training, mentorship and coaching programmes. Our Board of Directors ensure that we stay true to our purpose, while our team of practitioners & project managers are tasked with implementation of impactful programmes.