Knowing the mindset, gaining the knowledge
By Jaysen Francis
An entrepreneurial mindset together with the right mix of knowledge and skills can create the opportunity for building small businesses thatpropelscompetitiveness in the local economy. So, thinks Jaysen Francis, owner and founder of Shuffran Business Consulting.
Social and economic forces of entrepreneurial activity existed as long as the beginning of society. As civilization became more developed, trade as an entrepreneurial skill was obtained through formal education. Knowledge, skills and expertise acquired from the educational sector play a significant role in entrepreneurship development, although some of the world leading entrepreneurs such as Norman Sabga, Richard Branson and Theo Paphitis, made their way in the field of business, without formal business education. There is also no universally accepted definition or model of entrepreneurship and business management theorists argue that entrepreneurship is set of activities that are taken by a person to draw together numerous resources and ideas and syndicate them into a commercially conventional product.
Benefits of Entrepreneurship
The importance of entrepreneurship for achieving economic growth in contemporary economies is widely recognized both by the policy makers and economists. Wealth and the majority of jobs are created by small businesses started by entrepreneurially minded individuals, many of whom go on to create big businesses. Individuals exposed to entrepreneurship frequently express that they have more opportunity to exercise creative freedoms, higher self-esteem, and an overall greater sense of control over their own lives. Consequently, many experienced business people, political leaders, economists, and educators believe that fostering a robust entrepreneurial culture will maximize individual and collective economic and social success on a local, national, and global scale.
The Mindset of the Entrepreneur
As an entrepreneur, I advance that entrepreneurship is more about the mindset of the entrepreneur rather than the experience. The entrepreneurial mindset refers to that state of mind which orientates individuals towards entrepreneurial activities and outcomes. Individuals with entrepreneurial mindsets are often drawn to opportunities, innovation and new value creation (Fayolle and Lyon in Financial Times). However, moving from mindset to action is important and this can be achieved through gaining the right mix of knowledge and skills.
Entrepreneurial Education and Competitiveness
The lack of Entrepreneurial skills remains a challenge for the Trinidad and Tobago economy, which must be addressed if we are to increase our competitiveness on the global arena. Entrepreneurship education, in addition to the personality and mindset of the entrepreneur, is a prerequisite for every successful entrepreneurial venture. While personality characteristics are thought to be innate, there are various skills and abilities which must be learnt if entrepreneurs are to be successful. These skills such as product and service design, business methods, knowledge of the industry, leadership, administrative, financial management, and the ability to acquire operating resources can be acquired through the formal education process.
Yet, entrepreneurial education has been challenged for not being able to produce entrepreneurs since it has been the established understanding among business professionals that some people are born entrepreneurs and will succeed with or without education once they possess the entrepreneurial spirit. Conversely there is a school of thought which argues that creativity and innovation which is the art of entrepreneurship is not teachable, except through experience. To increase competitiveness both the art and the science should be complimentary which is the subject of much debate.
The Nature/Nurture Debate
Entrepreneurship education and training has been growing rapidly, yet there continues to be a debate on whether the “entrepreneurial spirit” comes from nature or nurture. Most entrepreneurs come from families who were entrepreneurs leaving the question unanswered. Still, if a school of thought argues that if it emanates from the families of entrepreneurs, it does not necessarily mean it is genetic, as it can also be learnt through formal education and training. However, this author proposes that entrepreneurship education is a lifelong learning process which should start as early as elementary
school and progress through all levels of education, including adult education thereby presenting students with the opportunity to have better entrepreneurial opportunity and career intentions. This can be achieved by using a combination of entrepreneurship development models.
Regional Entrepreneurship Models
Integrating innovation and entrepreneurial thinking into the education process is a prerequisite to build and foster the 21st century skills, aptitudes, attitudes and entrepreneurial mindsets that the youth of the region must acquire to succeed and create opportunities. Some countries including Trinidad and Tobago, have already started to develop their entrepreneurial ecosystems, but the focus is on the higher education level and, only a handful of countries in the region are actively introducing national policies related to the implementation of entrepreneurial learning in their national education curricula. This must be done with urgency since the Trinidad and Tobago government has also highlighted the need for fostering entrepreneurship as the engine for radical and much needed transformation and diversification of the economy given the low oil and gas prices and its impact on the national economy
Fostering 21st Century Entrepreneurs – Tri-Level Strategy
It’s important to note that no entrepreneur or business opportunity is the same, and, as such the skills that are learnt in the classroom should complement the entrepreneurial mindset. On the same note, the talents of most entrepreneurs lie in their capability to align their passion and skills with potential opportunities which can be identified through formal training including communication and marketing. The strategy for entrepreneurship education should be in three levels that entail tertiary, secondary, and primary levels. When curriculum is taken into account, it is imperative for policy initiatives to address all the requisite aspects that are required when developing innovative curricula relevant to the current economic condition.
Networking and entrepreneurial behavior, mentoring and marrying potential entrepreneurs with other successful entrepreneurs should also form part of the curricula. Additionally, entrepreneurial education should have specific modules such as establishing new ventures, enhance creativity, promote the recognition of opportunities, assist in the creation of ideas, foster leadership and facilitate acquisition of management skills.
Care must also be taken to have an educational system that does not exclude potential entrepreneurs who are not in the formal education system and emphasis must be placed on groups that shy away from entrepreneurship. Furthermore, there is need to grant owners of small businesses the necessary entrepreneurial skills to enhance their innovation capacity by introducing theory into business practices.
The curriculum should be developed in a way that many students can be trained to be entrepreneurs, reducing the dependency on public and private sector employment opportunities that are becoming more and more competitive and rare. In fact, our local curriculum should explore the possibility of making the programme part of schools’ curriculum to test its viability for promoting entrepreneurship education in primary and secondary schools to support the development of an entrepreneurial mindset at an earlier age where entrepreneurial intention may be more sustained.
Jaysen Francis, is the founder and owner of Shufffran Business Consulting. He holds a B.Sc. Business Administration from New Brunswick in Canada and an MBA from the Lord Ashcroft Business School, Anglia Ruskin University.
He can be reached in Trinidad at +1.868.482.7411