
At the beginning of this year the Foundation embarked into the world of blogging as we looked to share more of our thinking and stories as part of our contribution to building more entrepreneurial culture and understanding as well as to better communicate the opportunities, learnings and challenges related to the Foundation’s mission.
So for the last 44 weekswe have consistently sent out our weekly blog (and a few more) making this the 50thand last post of the year. During this time we have gathered around 30,000 views and a committed group of nearly 500 followers. As we come to the end of the first year of this journey we wanted to share some of the highlights and learnings.
The blog provided an opportunity for the Foundation to share information in a number of areas related to the mission of the Foundation. We categorised them as follows:
AREA | DESCRIPTION | RANKING |
Comment | Giving context and comment to external developments such as the release of the annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor | 2 |
Entrepreneurial Mindset Pillars | Unpacking the attitudes and mindset that underpin the Foundation’s five pillars, which in our view form the core requirements for entrepreneurial effectiveness | 6 |
Event | Providing commentary on important entrepreneurship related events in which the Foundation participates such as the Global Entrepreneurship Congress | 5 |
Foundation: | Giving insight into some specific areas of the Foundation’s mission such as selection | 4 |
Story | Sharing the progress of individual Scholars, Candidate Fellows and Fellows | 1 |
Thought Leadership | Articulating the Foundation’s learnings and thoughts around areas of knowledge related to our work such as Entrepreneurial mindset. | 3 |

Unsurprisingly the power of human interest prevailed and the most popular type of blog posts were those telling the stories of our Fellows and Scholars. Interestingly there wasrelatively limited engagement with the attitudes and mindset that make up the Foundation pillars. While the Foundation remains passionate about continuing to learn more about unlocking the entrepreneurial code, we need to do a better job of sharing this excitement with others!
Thesewere the five most popular posts of 2014 in order of popularity:
Three of the top five were stories and the remaining two were comment. Further confirmation of the interest in these two areas.
So what were the most important leanings from this first year?
1. Add value.
There is an overwhelming amount of quality information out there at the moment and unless you are adding real value there will be limited interest. While we may think there is little more important than the attitudes and mindsets making up the Foundation pillars, unless we are able to communicate them in a way that adds genuine value there will be marginal take up.
2. Give before you get
One of the most popular blogs of the year was a post describing the great work being done by African Schools for Excellence. We had no compelling reason to write this blog except to create more awareness of this positive development in education and yet it turned out to be one of the more important pieces of the year.
3. Find your Tribe
Perhaps the biggest learning of the year was the lack of engagement on the blog. We hoped to start a conversation and spark debate around areas important to entrepreneurship. Yet, as reflected by the sparse number of comments, this did not happen. We need to work harder to find that connection and this will be our focus in 2015.
That brings us to an end of 2014. Thank you for being part of the journey and for your valued support. After taking on board the lessons of 2014, we are excited at what lies ahead for an even better blogging 2015.
We hope you have a restful festive season and we will be back in action in the week of the 12th January.