Entrepreneurship Education Can Be The Biggest Force In Africa’s Financial Growth

Imparting students with entrepreneurial skills from a young age ensures that by the time they leave school, they are adaptable, innovative, and possess a growth mindset. In addition to this, these graduates will have the ability to identify a problem within their surroundings and devise a way to solve it and  commercialize it. Also, with entrepreneurial skills, a student entering the job market will possess fundamental business capabilities such as finance, marketing, information systems, and management. All this means that by the time a graduate is leaving school, they are able to turn an idea into a product or service, conduct effective market research to get product-market fit analysis, pitch their business to investors, and launch their new businesses into the market.  

Most educational institutions are taking a holistic approach to education in order to prepare students for the real world, tapping into youth talents and molding these gifts so that students can pursue them as careers once they graduate. As much as schools are attempting to introduce and nurture the entrepreneurial mindset in their students, more needs to be done in order to help prepare these young people for the real world.  

The real world needs graduates to have the following two things :

1. Basic understanding of entrepreneurship as it helps in molding their  careers and fitting into the different work environments.
2.  Entrepreneurship skills  that can help one establish  and grow their business/ startup in case they lack or are not interested in formal employment. This  positively impacts Africa’s economy and addresses the issue of unemployment in Kenya and Africa as a continent. 

 Benefits of entrepreneurship education to Africa’s economy

According to research carried out this year regarding world hunger, 278 million individuals on the continent are suffering from chronic hunger. This translates to 20% of Africa’s population. In comparison, only 10% of the global population (excluding Africa) is suffering from chronic hunger. In a different but related report, the horn of Africa is currently experiencing an unprecedented severe drought. This is the worst drought that has ever been experienced in Africa in the past 40 years. Over 18 million individuals in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya are experiencing extreme hunger.  

These bleak statistics show the state of Africa’s economy as we are unable to combat key issues such as starvation within the continent when natural disasters occur. A plethora of people across Africa are experiencing chronic starvation and relying on foreign organizations to help them survive. The fact is, starvation is just one of the issues we face ; we have many others that need to be addressed . 

On the bright side , Africa has been identified as one of the hottest grounds for innovation, meaning that as a continent we have a chance to tap into these opportunities in order to generate national income and deal with the challenges and issues we face. 

This is where entrepreneurship education comes in. 

Armed with skills and technical know-how, graduates are able to spot a market gap and come up with an idea to service the needs of consumers being affected by that gap. Here are some general benefits of entrepreneurship education; 

• Creates jobs and increases national GDP.
• Introduces innovative ways to solve problems. 
• Creates new markets and contributes to economic growth
• Increases competition in the markets and boosts productivity of the people. 

The improvement of entrepreneurship education can significantly contribute to all the above and bring us one step closer to self-sufficiency as a country and a continent.  

The entrepreneurship skill gap among African youths

The Alliance for African Partnership (AAP) released a report this year titled Youth Entrepreneurial Ecosystem for Sustainable Development in Sub-Saharan Africa. These were the highlights;

• Youths in Africa, specifically in Kenya,  Botswana, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda lack an entrepreneurial mindset and skills despite the fact that they have degrees and diplomas. 
• Although most institutions encourage entrepreneurship training, there is still a noticeable gap in this sector. 
• Entrepreneurial skills will help students become innovators, creatives, and problem solvers.
• Kenyan youths have inadequate entrepreneurship  skills and are therefore not able to effectively introduce their product or service in the market and scale. 

Schools have acknowledged the vitality of entrepreneurship over time, and in response to this, they have begun cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset in their students. However, despite these admirable efforts, research shows that more can be done to fashion entrepreneurial adults who will grow the country’s and the continent's economies through creative problem-solving.

How Kinetic will help you improve entrepreneurship education among your students

At Kinetic, we aim to impart students with entrepreneurial skills that will help them comfortably navigate the 21^st-century world, either as employees or as business founders. 

Kinetic is an interactive and immersive online learning platform that is built on a tried and tested systematic entrepreneurship framework, which is broken down into practical modules for students. Our platform is designed to impart practical entrepreneurial skills among students at an early age.  

Additionally, we offer students an opportunity to listen to and learn from global leaders and entrepreneurs on how they leverage entrepreneurship skills to propel their journeys. The goal of these conversations is to expand the minds and thinking of students to seize opportunities around them right from an early age.

Curious to learn how you can do more for your students in terms of entrepreneurship education? Visit our page or contact us on mumbi@kinetic.education.