Yorkshire game encourages entrepreneurship in Africa

A Yorkshire firm has developed an award-winning business simulation game which could give some of Africa's poorest people an insight into how to run their own company.

What’s the game all about?
SimVenture absorbs users in a highly authentic, enjoyable learning experience, quickly and effectively teaching players business and entrepreneurship skills and understanding. It uses a concept similar to a well-known football game, which allows armchair pundits to manage a football club using transfer and team selection decisions.

Why target the poor in Africa?
Although SimVenture is already used in hundreds of educational and commercial organisations, as well as in 80 British universities, company co-founder Peter Harrington, of York, is interested in exploring using the software to help the poor. He believes the game will help people learn from business experience without gambling their own money. It offers a safe way to bridge the knowledge gap—often expressed in business as: "I wish I knew then what I know now." The game could help break the vicious circle which exists because people have no training in how to develop a business, so they only ever make enough to scrape by.

What’s happening in Africa?
In August 2009, company Peter Harrington travelled to Kibera in Nairobi, where a million people live on an average of between $1 and $2 a day. His goal was to teach 5 trainers how to develop their business skills using the software, which can then be passed on to the slum’s residents—many of which already demonstrate high levels of entrepreneurial spirit, selling everything from shoes to fried fish lunches on the streets.

Why Kenya?
Peter Harrington had met Sarah Kanaiya, an associate consultant with KPMG, at an entrepreneurship conference in Canada in 2008. Sarah saw SimVenture and immediately recognised the impact it could have in the Kenyan slums.

Want to know more?
Visit the SimVenture website.