Zazida Institute of Entrepreneurship

Zazida is a new and innovative low-cost, self-sustaining, inductive learning and values based post-secondary Institute of Entrepreneurship, aimed at unemployed youth in South Africa. Zazida is a concept that breaks the accepted rules of engagement in order to bring education in to the 21st century. The Zazida team is an energetic and highly qualified team of passionate people whose vision is in the process of being transformed into a reality.The founder, Vincent Joyner, after spending 18 years with global giant Accor (www.accor.com ) designed a low cost model of education (using the principles behind SouthWest RyanAir, Mc Donalds etc) for youth over the age of 18 years. In a step change from traditional educational charities, Zazida’s operations will be completely self-sustaining long term by leveraging the more practical aspects of the student’s curriculum and the introduction of a sustainable commercial element into the model. These cash flows from these elements will then be used to cover the functioning costs of the school (salaries, food, rentals, stationary etc) and stipends to students (to cover transport etc). These ventures will give the students great opportunities, in a structured environment, to gain managerial experience (leadership, responsibility and accountability) in real businesses.

The Zazida target market is youth over 20 years of age, holding a Matric. Prior academic results are not considered for acceptance to Zazida (except as required by law), as these results generally reflect the educationa system’s failure and not the students’. To overcome this obstacle, Zazida has established a rigorous 14 step assessment mechanism which also includes: psychometric assessment (developed by Harvard University and specially customised for Zazida), learning potential evaluation, personality profiling, entrepreneurial trait assessment and internal motivation identification, numeric, verbal and inductive reasoning, interpersonal skills appraisal and others). This allows for Zazida to identify those currently undiscovered individuals who have the necessary ‘raw’ material than can be transformed into high potential leaders through an intensive self-development, business-education, work-experience, growth-industry-exposure programme.

The Zazida days typically runs for 11 hours for the students, flipping between different styles and manners of learning, on-time as well as off-time.

Zazida is showing a new innovative way to solve one of South Africa's most serious problems,in a self-sustaining, low-cost manner.