My Perspective on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Resolute Education.

My time with Resolute Education has been an incredible experience. In my early teens, I felt that entrepreneurship was reserved for a particular type of emphatic friend who rejected traditional corporate and chose to forge their own business path (which in many ways is still true.) We all remember those kids. They knew a guy who knew a guy who sold cool sneakers or ran a mini tuckshop out of their locker, undercutting “the establishment” and providing for the common man/child. They were risk-takers, movers, and shakers who sought to disrupt the status quo. I thought they were only out to make pocket money. I definitely did not think I was one of those people.

I didn’t think of entrepreneurs as innovators, problem solvers, or, quite literally, the founders of most businesses or inventions we cannot live without today. Henry is why my commute takes fifteen minutes in the morning, not fifty. Before Bill, we didn’t have computers in every home, but now we can’t go anywhere without them in our pockets. I’m visiting family soon in the next few weeks abroad, and I am not chartering a ship; I’m flying! Respect to Orville and Willy.?

Entrepreneurs make the world a better place. We can always use more. They “see a need. Fill a need” - Robots, 2005. They all have something in common: a hunger or a passion for solving problems. Maybe that same hunger and passion for problems brought my entrepreneurs to me. Their names are Rajesh Pasungili and Gareth Thomson. Maybe you’ve heard of them? If not, it’s just not yet. They’re the founders of Resolute Education, and they’re solving a problem the world over: Learners need to learn about technology.?

The inventions of Bill, Steve, Elon, Mark, and Sam are a fraction of the multitude of tools that form our everyday lives. We’re capable of intellectual and technological feats that would have never been possible. It’s as if our technology came from space (still an open debate in some internet circles), but my educated guess is that it didn’t. It (technology) came from us. People. People like you and me. People like our students. Resolute Education’s view is that if you learn to read and write in school, you should be learning code. It’s a skill in your arsenal that can only benefit you when navigating tomorrow.

It turns out that a nation agrees with us. In fact, a globe. What began as a few afternoon coding and robotics clubs has snowballed into over three hundred schools and over one hundred and fifty thousand learners learning through our programmes across eleven countries. They’re breathing life into devices, coding websites and applications, and wielding technology in the fray of creativity. Now, in the wake of the official introduction of coding and robotics as a subject in South Africa, we have never had a greater opportunity to show our learners that they are not just passengers in innovation but participants. They have the means to embrace entrepreneurship like never before.?

I had the privilege of joining this Resolute “Fellowship” since Rivendell (nerd moment), and It’s been incredible to watch and participate. I’ve seen some of my own decisions shape innovation, fill needs, and solve problems even in the smallest of ways. As we’ve grown, our startup has inevitably become a part of my personal growth, and in conclusion, I was wrong before. Entrepreneurship is not reserved for a certain kind of person. It’s an attitude. A mindset that says, “I see that problem, and I can solve it.” Thank you to my entrepreneurs and my team for enlightening me a little more every step of the way.?

The world needs more entrepreneurs, and with Resolute, I feel that we are helping find more entrepreneurs every day.

Jonathan du Plessis