Mentoring

Economic Community Transformation Groups (ECTGs)

• The principle aim of ECTGs is to journey more closely with our graduates over a longer time horizon to bring powerless and vulnerable individuals into a group that provides encouragement, participation, creativity, affinity, mutual trust, accountability and responsibility. The vision is that an ECTG will form into a vibrant community that has restored hope, takes ownership of their situation and uses their combined skills, resources and influence to identify and implement projects or initiatives that will result in job creation, economic upliftment, empowerment, financial independence and freedom.
• The key attributes of an ECTG are: Business coaching & mentorship, Support for each other, Access to finance, Personal development, Accountability group, Economic community development projects, Regular meetings and (potentially) the Formation of cooperatives.
• Membership is limited to graduates of an Epic Solutions Business Training course as the training is used to develop trust, establish some common ground rules and provide exposure to best practices about business, money management and business ethics.
• Groups are be launched and overseen initially by an Epic Solutions Community Project Manager (CPM) who will plan the meetings and meeting agenda which will include a discussion on their business successes ad challenges and may also include additional teaching.  The goal however, is to quickly empower the group to establish their own group identity through naming, developing their own rules and talking about their own lives, businesses and community issues. The outcome we desire to see, is members sharing their lives with one another which will lead to a strong support system.
• Once the group has formed, the members will decide the place of the meeting and the day/time of the meeting suitable to them. The regular meeting gives them a sense of belonging and helps them to form into a community. It is important for the ECTG members to commit themselves to meet regularly on a weekly basis and follow an agenda that has been prepared by the group.

Our programme also seeks to look at the purpose of business and its role as a transformation agent to bring about social, economic, environmental and personal change. We also deal with character and ethical aspects of running a business such as trust, excellence, partnership, diversity, self-control, planning and stewardship.  Each meeting begins with teaching one of these aspects and how these can be applied.

• Further teaching on business topics is also provided in areas such as marketing, how to price products, how to generate ideas, identify and evaluate opportunities, writing a business plan, managing assets and financial management. We also look at area for personal development such as meeting commitments, managing personal finances and assisting with social challenges.
• Each entrepreneur is also given a chance to share on the prior month’s activities highlighting what is going well and areas where they are experiencing difficulties. The Group Leader and Community Project Manager will then provide advice and help the entrepreneur/s develop action steps that they can take to overcome the barriers that they are facing.
• Should a complex need arise, or if there are a couple of group members who are experiencing the same challenge, then we will invite an “expert” from our network to come and provide input on that subject. This includes expert assistance in drawing up a detailed business plan for each entrepreneur.