How Entrepreneurship Education Affects Entrepreneurship

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Education Stimulates Entrepreneurship, But Education Is Not Accessible To All

Access to education varies considerably across the globe, and so does the quality of education. What varies to an even greater extent is the access to entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship education is mostly accessible at tertiary level institutions. Unfortunately, not many people make it to join such institutions. Studies reveal that Canada, the country with the leading share of people in tertiary education, had 59% of its educated population enrolled in tertiary institutions as of 2019. On the lower scale, some developing countries are still grappling with less than 10% of their total population getting access to tertiary education.

So what does that mean for entrepreneurship? Given that there exists a positive correlation between education and entrepreneurship, such statistics can be considered alarming, especially if the GEM Global Report of 2020/2021 is anything to go by.

According to this report by the GEM Consortium, out of 43 economies selected globally, 36 economies show that a graduate is more likely to be starting or running a new business, including 15 economies in which a graduate is at least a third more likely to be starting and running a new business than a non-graduate: 11 from Europe & North America, three from Middle East & Africa and one from Latin America & Caribbean.

Of course we are not saying that the only way to succeed in entrepreneurship is to have a degree in the subject. In fact, in economies such as the USA, only 26% of small business owners said they had a bachelor’s degree, while only 17% went to college as of 2019. Yet still, we cannot stand by and ignore the positive impact that education, and specifically entrepreneurship education can have for entrepreneurship.

That is why we, Edventures, asked the question, How can we make entrepreneurship education not just accessible, but relevant to the needs of the present day markets, as well as the modern day entrepreneurs? Let’s take a look.

The Classification Of Entrepreneurial Education

To best understand how to open the grand doors of entrepreneurship to the world, we found it important to first of all understand entrepreneurship education in depth. Different countries make different provisions for education, have varying educational levels, and have diversely structured curricula. Consequently, measuring the global impact that entrepreneurial education may have on entrepreneurship becomes a complex venture. There are just too many variables to go by.

So many people resort to measuring entrepreneurship education as the extent to which learners have knowledge to help them demystify the phenomenon that is entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, correct as it may be, this measure fails to capture the full essence of entrepreneurship education. In the perspective of Martin Lakeus’ Entrepreneurship360 paper, entrepreneurship education in its entirety is a combination of three approaches, namely:

1. Education about entrepreneurship

This approach to entrepreneurship education emphasises the use of theoretical and content-laden models of teaching entrepreneurship. It is a 20th century form of education, and is unfortunately what most of us picture in mind anytime we hear the word education in general.

2. Education for entrepreneurship

This second approach could very well be the exact opposite of the first. It’s a more practical and skill based approach to entrepreneurship education. Instead of pumping theory into the learner, this approach emphasises on the use of practical and relevant examples to train, and examine one’s understanding of entrepreneurship. Education for entrepreneurship doesn’t necessarily replace content. It merely modifies it by making it more relevant to the learner and the industry demands.

3. Education through entrepreneurship

Lastly, education through entrepreneurship encompasses a more process oriented approach to learning entrepreneurship. Think of it as some form of apprenticeship. The learner in such a case, is placed in an entrepreneurial environment, and taught entrepreneurship solely through their experience in the environment.

What Is Edventures’ Approach On Entrepreneurship Education?

With this broader understanding of entrepreneurship education, we can now expound on our mission of making entrepreneurship accessible to everyone. From where we stand, entrepreneurship education needs to evolve. Novice entrepreneurs and even those who have had fairly more experience in entrepreneurship need to adapt new ways of learning the craft.

These ways, we propose, should take up a more modern way of doing things. They should also inculcate modern skills that help solve modern day problems. So, what we offer leans towards the education for entrepreneurship and the education through entrepreneurship approaches.

How Does Edventures Offer Education For Entrepreneurship?

In terms of an education for entrepreneurship, Edventures has leveraged on the use of Artificial Intelligence to make content more relevant to your individual needs, and the needs of your preferred business niche.

The first part of our AI is Anna. Anna is a personalised entrepreneurship assistant. At the core, Anna’s functionality is to help you find relevant information for your business, and respond to your business questions as fast and as accurately as possible. With Anna, you can literally discuss your business idea, get business insights, get suggestions on how you can improve your idea, and the best part is, it’s all as simple as texting (actually, it’s all texting.)

Then there’s Eddie. As a student or an entrepreneur trying to learn more about entrepreneurship, you can grow your knowledge on the subject and even test your understanding of the same.

Using our gamified learning approach, you will be able to focus on key business topics while measuring your strengths and weaknesses. You will take tests and compete with entrepreneurs around the world, as well as track and record your progress.

How Does Edventures Offer Education Through Entrepreneurship?

It doesn’t stop at that. Edventures takes it up a notch higher by giving you a chance to connect with organisations that can offer you training in entrepreneurship. By signing up and requesting to be partnered with an innovation organisation, we can look through some of the organisations that have enrolled with us, and help set up a connection to see whether they can link you up with their entrepreneurship coaches.

By doing this, Edventures helps immerse you into real-life applications of entrepreneurship, and hopefully, you can learn a lot through this approach. Not to mention, your coach, should you get one, can help you review the track record you obtained from Eddie, and address some of the issues you may be facing as far as growing your business is concerned.

How To Engage In Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurship education is a phenomenon with vast potential when it comes to giving entrepreneurs a chance to grow and succeed in entrepreneurial activities. Though it may be difficult to get entrepreneurship education that is suited to your business needs, we are here to tell you that it is not that complicated. If anything, gaining entrepreneurship education is now as easy as texting. That is our contribution to you, and the world. That is how Edventures intends to make entrepreneurship accessible to everyone.

Join our journey and sign up to our waitlist! 📝