How to prepare young people to become entrepreneurial thinkers

Written by Christian Gaya: 
Business Times Friday December 28,2012-January 3,2013

Young entrepreneurship education and training should seek to prepare people, especially young women and men, to be responsible, enterprising individuals who become young entre­preneurs or young entrepreneurial thinkers and who contribute to economic development and sustainable communities.

 

Young entrepreneurship education should be recognized as a key enabler in developing attitudes and characteristics needed to be entrepreneurial throughout one’s life. Young entrepreneurship education and training should be promoted and implemented as a core component of education, developing the attitudes and characteristics needed to be entrepreneurial throughout one’s life. These attitudes include among others the capacity of being creative and innovative, being problem-solving oriented, developing a strong sense of self-efficacy etc.

Young entrepreneurship education can also help develop the self-con­fidence of learners by allowing to them to proactively test their skills in a safe environment and enable them to engage actively in the economy and society through decent work. Whether young women and men chose to seek employment or create their employment by start­ing a business, teachers should ensure that linkages are provided to other available supports (career guidance, training, business development services, etc.) that can increase their capacity to successfully transition from school to work.

It is further important for curriculum developers, educational administrators and teachers to review existing interna­tional young entrepreneurship curricula materials and pro­grammes as a first step in the curriculum development process. This will help in developing an appreciation for the content and methodology for teaching young entrepreneur­ship and appropriate for the target group. There should also be a check as to whether the curriculum is gender sensitive.

This curriculum review process will help deter­mine how best to integrate young entrepreneurship into the curriculum, either as a stand-alone course or as modules within existing courses. After piloting, and based on the data obtained through monitoring, the curriculum should be reviewed and its impact assessed. Based on these, the curriculum should then be further improved, enhanced and adapted as necessary.

The curriculum needs to reflect the local culture and highlight local examples and situations. These examples and case studies should include young local men and women from various backgrounds and ages as International curricula include basic concepts regarding young entrepreneurship but adaptation to the context will be needed. In some countries, for example, the decision to start a business is not an individual decision, but is made by the family, group or community.

Curriculum developers should make it clear how the concepts in the curricula are linked to young entrepreneurial practice. Case studies, projects and inviting business and social entrepreneurs into the classroom to give presentations will help young learners to better understand and internalize the entrepreneurial concepts presented in the curriculum. The young entrepreneurs might also serve role models, mentors and coaches and show the differ­ent facets of what being young entrepreneurial can be. Effort should be taken to include young women entrepreneurs to serve as much needed role models to young girls who may otherwise develop the notion that young entrepreneurship is primarily for men.

One of the most effective ways to develop young entrepreneur­ial mind-sets and skills is through “learning by doing”. Experience in the United States suggests that almost 20% of learners involved in school-based student-operated businesses in secondary school and vocational institutions create their own businesses after their stud­ies.  Activities in the curriculum should provide learners with opportunities to come in contact with school-based student-operated business and/or with young entrepreneurs in their community.

Teachers should therefore have the appropriate resources in terms of time, financial resources and flexibility to coordinate activities aimed at enhancing students’ comprehension through hands-on experience and developing their young entrepreneurial com­petences.