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With this brief paper about entrepreneurship the role of higher education in south africa angelo nicolaides.
Educational Research (ISSN: 2141-5161) Vol. 2(4) pp. 1043-1050 April 2011
Available online@http://www.interesjournals.org/ER
Copyright © 2011 International Research Journals
Review
Entrepreneurship- the role of Higher Education in South
Africa
Angelo Nicolaides
Angelo Vaal University of Technology. Email: [email protected]
Accepted 09 May, 2011
Entrepreneurship continues to assume a vital role in the South African economy as well as the
economies of many developing nations across the globe. The creation of new business activities has
become a major driver in the economy and these greatly affect economic growth, job creation and
general prosperity and, to an extent, enhance the national competitiveness of the nation in the global
business arena. Although South Africa is trying to intensify the amount of entrepreneurial activity there
are still a wide variety of challenges. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research
shows that a low level of overall education and training is still the biggest challenge facing the nation.
Consequently a critical performance area must be to improve the level of overall education and training
whilst promoting the notion of entrepreneurship as a viable option. This paper strives to answer some
important questions relating to entrepreneurship. First and foremost, why is entrepreneurship
necessary and who, precisely, are entrepreneurs and where may they be found? What can government
do to promote entrepreneurship and what is it that Higher Education can do to develop a greater
entrepreneurial awareness in South Africa given that there is ambivalence as to the degree to which
entrepreneurship can be taught? Are South African universities able to develop cross-functional
thinkers who are innovative and have entrepreneurial skills that are needed in the local economy? To
what extent do the local universities encourage entrepreneurship by making use of innovative
programme designs and are there specialist post-graduate programmes in entrepreneurship or is it
simply regarded as an area business students must be aware of with no explicit academic
entrepreneurship bias? The answers to these questions and their implications for the nation are
discussed in this paper.
Key word: Higher Education, entrepreneurship, government role.
INTRODUCTION
The critically vital role and positive contribution of
entrepreneurship and the promotion of a vigorous
entrepreneurial culture in economic and social
development in South Africa cannot be overstated. At the
national level, South Africa is estimated to have
approximately 2 million small and medium business
enterprises (SMMEs), representing 98% of the total
number of businesses. These SMMEs employ roughly
55% of the country’s labour force and contribute
approximately 42% to the country’s wage bill. A major
problem for South Africa is the fact that 87% of these
SMMEs are survivalist in nature and the majority of these
are black owned, while 41% are owned by women (2006
study on entrepreneurship). In South Africa, the ratio of
entrepreneurs to other workers is roughly 1 to 52. When
compared to the ratio in developed countries, which is of
1 to 10 (Friedrich & Visser, 2005), this is indeed a poor
ratio.
Why is entrepreneurship and why is it necessary?
Entrepreneurship has been defined as a: “process of
conceptualising, organizing, launching and, through
innovation, nurturing a business opportunity into a
potentially high growth venture in a complex, unstable
environment” (Rwigema and Venter (2004).
It is the entrepreneurs who create and give birth to new
technologies, products and services. They also create
new markets and jobs along the way. Entrepreneurs are
savvy risk takers, implementers and innovators. They
transform the socio-economic landscape by creating and
exploiting new opportunities. In a world where people live
in fear of being made redundant and where corporations
“right-size”, “downsize” or “retrench” employees,
whichever term you prefer to use, entrepreneurship is
seen as a viable option, albeit with risks attached.
Entrepreneurship is thus regarded as a “dynamic process
1044 Educ. Res.
of vision, change, and creation. It requires an application
of energy and passion towards the implementation of
new ideas and creative solutions. Essential ingredients
include the willingness to take calculated risks…”
(Kuratko, 2003). Entrepreneurs tend to create products
that fly in the face of established knowledge, and in the
process they challenge the status quo. They are
essentially risk-takers who pursue opportunities that
others may fail to recognize.
By fostering entrepreneurship a society promotes the
competitiveness of businesses. If real transformation is to
occur in South Africa, there must be space for creativity
and imagination in overhauled policies. South Africa is
faced with a multitude of challenges including the great
need for a higher economic growth-rate. There is a
growing need to transform innovations and new creations
or products or services into something more meaningful.
This transformation will create employment. Many
employees are forced into becoming more flexible
functionally and opt to become self-employed in areas
where they feel they have relevant skills and /or training
and education. The promotion of entrepreneurial thinking
and action will in essence, to very large extent create
employment, which is much sought after and desired for
masses of unemployed South Africans. Generally
speaking, entrepreneurship will be a driver for economic
growth and its benefits in the South African scenario will
be huge, particularly when there is a negative business
climate as in a recession. It also facilitates global
economic development and increases the skills of
employees. Human capital and personal development
are able to grow. This is very important given that large
businesses cannot conceivably hope to even absorb 5%
of the surplus of unemployed people. Entrepreneurship
will also create a fresh competitiveness in markets as
entrepreneurs are individuals who identify opportunities
and use these to their own benefit (Maas and Fox, 1997).
The country is obliged by external economic forces to
become far more competitive whilst the changing face of
the workforce and types of work, means that the skills
necessary for socio-economic growth need to be re-
assessed (King and McGrath, 2002).
At the macro-level private sector development and
entrepreneurship growth are essential components for
attaining the United Nations Millennium Development
Goal of poverty reduction. Once sound macroeconomic
policies are in place and market access is provided,
emerging markets need to nurture and develop
entrepreneurs who would be in a position to take
advantage of a myriad of business opportunities created
by increasing globalisation. Economically,
entrepreneurship definitely revitalizes markets as the
creation of new business leads to job creation and this
has a huge knock-on effect on the economy. Socially
speaking, entrepreneurship tends to empower citizens
and it generates innovation and shifts mindsets that were
previously sedate. Such changes have the potential to
successfully integrate developing countries into the global
economy.
Who are entrepreneurs?
The amount of entrepreneurship in any society is reliant
on the presence of three critical dimensions including,
innovativeness; risk-taking; and pro-activeness (Morris
and Kuratko, 2001) but it is something which can also be
learnt (Timmons and Spinelli, 2004). Schumpeter (1934)
regarded entrepreneurs as individuals who are radical
market innovators. He saw them as instigators of
“creative destruction” through the process of innovation.
He believed that all industries are at some point in time,
appropriately replaced by others. This replacement
process he termed as “destruction” making way for
“creation” hence the term “creative destruction”. This
process is ongoing and new entrepreneurial enterprises
are being founded daily in the United States of America
(Census, 2000). South Africa as a growing economy is
also subject to this phenomenon.
Whilst education is not able to totally prepare budding
entrepreneurs to become successful business owners, it
greatly enhances the prospect of success. Entrepreneurs
are generally confident individuals who show promise in
creativity and innovation and have the know-how
obtained from either Higher Education institutions, from
family networks or have simply gone out there and
researched for themselves, often learning by a painful
trial-and-error approach. The education of an
entrepreneur will greatly influence his/her perception of
entrepreneurship. They have the ability to transform a
simple idea into a workable reality. Entrepreneurs tend to
network very well and think conceptually. They basically
see an opportunity in the market and exploit that
opportunity by gathering resources and taking measured
and carefully managed risks. Entrepreneurs are always
results orientated and seek to add value by satisfying the
needs of their market. Many of them are challenged by
their education. The growing interest in entrepreneurship
is leading to more and more universities offering
entrepreneurship as a course of study.
Where do we find entrepreneurs?
Many entrepreneurs have been driven by necessity into
entrepreneurial ventures. A large number of businesses
in various sectors of the economy, such as marginal
mining enterprises, have over the last few years tended
to layoff middle-management and workers and this has
led to unemployment figures escalating. People have
thus been forced in a sense, to start other ventures such
as small businesses. Others have been more fortunate
and have been employed by companies where there is a
need for people who are able to think cross-functionally.
Many South Africa high school students have now
begun to see entrepreneurship as a potential career
choice and this is also the case in the United States of
America (Bardach, 1997). In fact, the demand has been
so great that many American Universities have
established entrepreneurship centres (Katz, 2000). In
South Africa, entrepreneurs are found in the business
world and the community at large, in both the public and
private sectors as well as in the formal and informal
sectors. There are also many entrepreneurs in the Arts
and Science.
What can government do to promote
entrepreneurship?
The South African government has fortunately
recognised the vital contribution that entrepreneurs can
play in the economic development and the social
upliftment of the nation. Consequently, a vital component
of the government’s ten year vision of the Accelerated
and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) is
for the nation to become an entrepreneurial in orientation.
A number of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)
reports highlight that the vast array of problems in
education and training are the major inhibitors of
entrepreneurial growth in South Africa. This is particularly
noticeable in the age groups 18-34 years of age. The
legacy of Apartheid and the inferior quality education
given to blacks in the past has meant that huge numbers
of black people have lost the opportunity to acquire skills
that are required to drive entrepreneurial initiatives. In
addition, critical thinking skills were not encouraged and
most entrepreneurial education was non-existent for
blacks.
Today, individuals who recognize solid business
opportunities are rewarded and those previously
excluded from participating in the economy now have
opportunity to access it. They are also supported by
various development services, and can become fully
integrated into the economy. If South Africa is to meet
and sustain the material needs of all its people, it is
imperative that the government must thus begin to
vigorously develop a spirit of enterprise in which
entrepreneurial ventures are acceptable and worthy of
support. In this regard, individuals should be helped more
to take calculated risks. Creativity, learning and
innovative thought through education should also be
vigorously promoted. Schumpeterian entrepreneurs
(individuals who learn to become entrepreneurs) should
be nurtured whilst Kirznerian entrepreneurs (those who
are naturally entrepreneurially orientated), should be
supported more. Opportunities do exist (objectively)
waiting to be discovered, but it is the actions put in
motion by entrepreneurs to exploit any given opportunity
that in fact create the opportunity (Alvarez and Barney,
2007).
Nicolaides 1045
The “network paradigm” as it has been defined by
Cooke and Morgan (1993), is a major way in which
innovation possibilities can be capitalized on. The
necessary resources such as finance and infrastructure
should to an extent be made available by the
government. Organs should exist at Universities in which
“selection panels” have a greater vision in identifying
people with a natural aptitude for creative and innovative
business development. The individual entrepreneur
should be able to make use of his/her family networks as
well as governmentally assisted social networks.
There is clearly a very strong relationship between
education levels and entrepreneurial activity which lead
to the failure or success of business ventures. As a result
of this entrepreneurship education should be encouraged
as far back as the primary school level as learners’ self-
confidence about their ability to start a business later in
life is to a large degree built on such education.
Innovation and technology in education are important
entrepreneurs should be guided to discover which
opportunities exist if these are not immediately apparent
to them (Casson and Wadeson, 2007). Essentially they
should explore and then exploit opportunities (Foss and
Klein, 2010).
A number of international studies on the theme of
entrepreneurship strongly suggest that the building
blocks of successful small business are the expertise and
skills and the of the business owner. The implication is
thus that predominantly, but not exclusively, black people
should be given opportunities to develop
entrepreneurship skills through affirmative action policies
and other measures.
What can Higher Education do?
It is apparent that the Apartheid economic dispensation in
South Africa provided higher education offerings which
served the then needs of industry well, in that they made
available a workforce that would be trapped so to speak,
in a comfort zone, working for a ‘boss’. The offshoot of
such education was to instill within future university
students the notion that one should graduate and then
seek employment in large corporations or other such
formal sector settings rather than opt for something
innovative and creative as a work option. Today however,
SMMEs are accounting for a sizeable chunk of economic
activity. The result is that HEIs are increasingly obliged to
redefine their role in the South African economy. The
primary function of HEIs should thus now be to seek to
instill a greater entrepreneurial character among
students. HEIs should also strive to carefully consider
local development needs and support the promotion of
entrepreneurial education initiatives, and this should not
only be at the tertiary level but as early as the primary
school level. Government must fully support such
initiatives and promote holistic education (Nieuwenhuizen
1046 Educ. Res.
and Kroon, 2002) at all levels and help to establish
entrepreneurial ventures.
The role of Higher Education is clearly to meet the
socio-economic needs of the country whilst safeguarding
social justice and democratic values. In addition HEIs
have an important role to play in regional innovation
systems and what are termed learning areas (Morgan,
1997). They also serve as knowledge producers, teach
and are agents of exchange in a society (Etzkowitz et al,
2000). The higher education system must therefore
provide the requisite research, knowledge and a highly
skilled workforce if the nation is to compete in the global
arena which is highly dynamic (Cloete and Bunting,
2000). Entrepreneurship is a rapidly developing area of
study in South Africa and it is clearly assuming greater
prominence in the global business arena. There is much
greater demand for entrepreneurship training locally.
Consequently, more faculties are required to offer
entrepreneurship as a course or at least make it a greater
part of existing courses where it does indeed exist.
It is clear from the available literature that education
including entrepreneurship is critical as it contributes to
job creation and helps considerably to reduce poverty
(Timmons and Spinelli, 2004). Higher Education
institutions are regarded as the custodians of knowledge
in society and play a very significant role in developing a
nation. This is why entrepreneurship education should
not merely be a niche activity. This realization has
dawned on Higher Education institutions and has resulted
in a noticeable increase in entrepreneurship programmes
since about 1998. The process is ongoing and it is a
matter of time before there is a relatively fixed
entrepreneurship culture in South Africa, which will
challenge academics and students alike. Many new
challenges are facing universities as they seek to develop
and establish growing entrepreneurship programmes.
South Africa needs to seriously revamp its human capital
strategies if it is to begin to meet the challenges of the
global marketplace.
First and foremost will be the promotion of the very
great potential for innovative start-up business ideas. An
effective investment in national higher education
initiatives concerning entrepreneurship, which will to an
extent meet the needs of the population, will underpin the
international standing of South Africa’s higher education
institutions. Only by recognizing the great value and
importance of entrepreneurship, and by expanding
education about it, can South Africa hope to obtain a pre-
eminent position in the world of education and become
truly competitive economically. In many societies in
Africa, education has always played a very important role
alongside culture in forming an individual (Micere, 1999).
The cultural mindset concerning entrepreneurship in any
region needs to be taken into account and the aspects
which may either promote or go against entrepreneurship
as a career option should be carefully analyzed. In this
regard, the “spatial and cultural proximity” between those
that produce knowledge and those who use knowledge is
particularly salient (Koschatzky, 2001). The South African
education curriculum at school level as well as in Higher
Education system needs to be transformed so as to make
entrepreneurship one of the most important subjects that
should be taught (DoE, 2001). A difficulty could be that to
achieve a measure of parity for students from
disadvantaged backgrounds, access may become limited
to other students. This implies that higher education
would have to be further expanded. There is a problem
however, in that there are no acceptable paradigms or
suitable theories as to what entrepreneurship education
should encompass (Norton et al., 1999). This is a major
challenge for South African universities to overcome by
meaningful research initiatives on their part. By this I
mean that Higher Education institutes should link
research more closely to the market. Vaal University of
Technology, amongst other institutions of Higher
Learning has recognized the importance of
entrepreneurship and states the following on their
website:
“The Vaal University of Technology is committed to the
development of higher education….To achieve
excellence in teaching and learning endeavours by
developing entrepreneurial, technological and cognitive
skills….To create an environment conductive to develop
behavioural, attitudinal competencies and social skills
through cultural, sporting and personal development
activities…To generate innovative and relevant research
which solves the problems of industry and the
community….To create a culture of Lifelong Learning to
empower our communities by sharing knowledge, skills
and resources…All these functions will be enhanced by
national and international partnerships in order to meet
the needs of stakeholders of a democratic society.”
(www.vut.ac.za).
Entrepreneurs should be multi-skilled and flexible
enough to be able to compete globally (Chisholm, 1998),
and also be in a position to identify national and
international trends. They should also be able to isolate
and identify entrepreneurial opportunities that have
potential growth and should then be able to take
advantage of these opportunities. Entrepreneurship
courses should carefully separate business skills from
entrepreneurial skills. Business strategies and business
plans whilst important elements do not really improve a
person’s entrepreneurial skills. Dana (1993) expresses
the opinion, that entrepreneurship education should train
students in knowledge and skill acquisition that would
enable them to bring an idea, process or invention from
conception to full business potential. Whilst practical
experience is essential there must be harmony in
education. By this I mean that the practical components
requiring innovation and creativity, new idea-generation
and practical action, and the academic knowledge
components, need to be carefully counter-balanced so as
to make the study meaningful.
A strong knowledge base for entrepreneurship should
be created via research and the findings of such research
must be disseminated. Students must be in an
educational environment in which entrepreneurial ideas
are generated and tested. The results should then be
made known. The personal growth of students should be
facilitated and their critical faculties should be developed
as far as possible. Given the very wide range of
personalities, the characters of students should be built
so as to make their learning more significant. Ideally,
students should be inspired to learn for themselves in an
environment which promotes the idea of lifelong learning
and an ethos of personal research should pervade every
higher education institution and be part of the mindset of
each and every student. Entrepreneurship courses at
Universities can make a very significant contribution in
promoting meaningful entrepreneurship, as they could
allay the fears of failure of potential entrepreneurs by
educating the students about pitfalls and risks to avoid
when embarking on a new business venture. Students
will thus have a fuller understanding of entrepreneurship
as a phenomenon and surely become more competent
stakeholders in entrepreneurship at whatever level;
investor or employee, manager or entrepreneur
(Maranville, 1992). Young adults should be made
capable and be taught to become self-reliant rather than
expect to be fended for in an economy which is limited in
capability and which has approximately a 24%
unemployment rate. In a nutshell, as entrepreneurship is
a philosophy which can help the South African economy
to grow, it should be supported as a total system
(Timmons, 1999).
Another major challenge facing entrepreneurship
education in Higher Education institutions is an academic
faculty body, which has entrepreneurial ability and the
necessary qualifications to make the subject intelligible
and meaningful to students. There are clearly shortages
in suitably qualified academic staff to teach
entrepreneurship. While some faculties have a glut of
PhD academics who cannot find suitable employment,
entrepreneurship has too few suitable academics
(Pfannestial, 1998).
In many parts of the world, South Africa being no
exception, entrepreneurship is battling to find academic
legitimacy. Entrepreneurship should be a separate stand
-alone subject and not be viewed as simply part of
Business Management or part of an interdisciplinary field.
It is also good and well to have guest speakers and guest
lecturers, as these tend to offer a measure of interaction
with entrepreneurial business people, but this is not really
enough. Academic staff able to alter the mindsets of
students and who do have the ability to effectively teach
basic business skills and develop creative thinking in their
students by giving them practical assignments, whether
Nicolaides 1047
individual or group, should be the priority. Course content
should focus on the skills and knowledge an entrepreneur
would need to be successful (Benson, 1989). What is
paramount is that potential entrepreneurs see themselves
as self-reliant, aware, creative, analytical and
knowledgeable individuals who are able to successfully
become self-employed and make a meaningful
contribution to the society in which they live. They require
an entrepreneurial perspective (Kuratko, 2003). This
perspective should ideally be developed at high school
levels where more business related subjects should be
added to existing curricula, perhaps being made
compulsory to an extent.
Higher Education institutions create an environmental
awareness of entrepreneurship and its many facets and
support entrepreneurship in many ways (see figure 1).
This learning should be life-long learning and is
necessary to sustain individuals in society in this new
century where business is changing (Drucker, 1995). It is
also invaluable to the promotion of the philosophy. Higher
Education institutions need to ask the question as to what
the appropriate relationship between education and the
ever-changing workplace is and what it is precisely that
employers are seeking in terms of skills and capabilities
in young people entering the world of work?
Universities could be more supportive of entrepreneurs,
as is the case at the University of Johannesburg, which
involves students in gaining practical experience in direct
selling and practical sales management. Students
completing the National Diplomas in Marketing, Retail
Business, Sport Management, Small Business
Management and the Certificates in Marketing and Sales
as well as the Foundation Programme, have the
opportunity to gain two years of practical sales and one
year of practical sales management experience. Once
they complete their studies some students may it difficult
to obtain full-time employment. By participating in the
above project in which they do practical sales for any of
the Direct Selling Association (DSA) companies, they are
able to generate income for themselves and have
opportunities for personal and entrepreneurial
development. This opportunity granted through the
partnership with the DSA gives students a competitive
advantage. Students who successfully complete the
respective modules could reflect on their CVs that they
have two years sales experience as well as one year
experience in managing a sales team. On a macro level,
this project contributes towards alleviating unemployment
and instilling n entrepreneurial spirit which our country so
desperately requires (Govender, 2005). Universities
should also be more analytical and reflective of
entrepreneurship and its huge potential to impact
positively on the economy of the entire southern African
subcontinent. They have great potential to influence the
decision of an individual for or against a career as an
entrepreneur. This is particularly important for young
1048 Educ. Res.
HIGHER EDUCATION
ROLES AND FUNCTIONS
TO AID STUDENTS IN
OPTING FOR
ENTREPRENEURIAL
Supportive
Role
Catalytic
Role
Reflective
Role
Environmental
Awareness
Promoting
Analytic
Role
Guide individual student
Assist Socialization
Lessen administration
Guide on finance issues
Encourage family
Figure 1: Higher education's pivotal role in entrepreneurship
unemployed individuals who are either, graduates or
non-graduates, women and the unemployed in any
particular society.
Places of learning should be the catalysts of
entrepreneurial motivation and should drive it forward as
a viable alternative to working for someone else.
Teaching should be facilitated to maximize the potential
of individual students and to encourage a sense of
curiosity and motivation in them and they should become
alert and aware about opportunities (Kirzner, 2009).
Above all, Universities should be seen as places where
there is a teamwork mentality between students and
academics with respect to things entrepreneurial. New
patterns of work organization are appearing in the
workplace and team-based work is increasing, with fewer
levels of management and supervision, multi-tasking if
not multi-skilling, and a greater need for effective
communication skills (Probert, 1999). Learning groups
could be established which would go a long way to
sustain a climate of learning. In these groups of students,
they would inspire each other and assist each other, with
the guidance of academic staff, to succeed with a
business venture.
CONCLUSION
Entrepreneurship gives students a new way of looking at
the world, irrespective of whether or not they opt to
develop their own enterprises. New business start-up
activity is probably one of the most important social
activities for countries around the world. The rise of new
business significantly affects economies and creates jobs
and generally makes society more prosperous.
Entrepreneurship is now a mainstream in many countries
around the world. The young entrepreneur faces many
challenges in attempting to launch and grow potentially
good businesses. About 11 % of entrepreneurs
attempting to create high growth businesses, known as
“opportunity entrepreneurs” expect to provide 20 or more
jobs over a period of 60 months as opposed to 2% of
entrepreneurs who are “entrepreneurs by necessity”
(Zacharakis et al, 2001). This type of mentality is
common globally, therefore, a vision of what
entrepreneurship is all about will have very important
implications on the economy as a whole. It should be
fostered in light of job creation and the alleviation of
poverty amongst the masses. Entrepreneurship provides
individuals with career options and has great potential to
aid society to become self-sustaining (Scott, 2003). It is a
means of socio-economic upliftment for the downtrodden
in society and should be vigorously promoted at school
and higher education levels.
Students embarking on an entrepreneurial career path
should have greater access to government financial
support throughout their study. Private sector investment
initiatives in entrepreneurial education should also be
bolstered and in this regard, the government should
provide incentives to the private sector enterprises which
support quality entrepreneurial programmes. Business
could, for example, assist universities to develop digital
libraries which would make entrepreneurship initiatives
worldwide accessible to virtually all entrepreneurship
students. This would also enable students to contact
specialists in the field and they could maintain electronic
links. Each entrepreneurial student could interact with
vast numbers of people around the world, quickly and
simply and relatively inexpensively. The vision of the
future can be drastically altered for entrepreneurship
students by the use of the Internet. Higher Education
institutions must become lively communities of
intellectuals once again, as in the Renaissance, in which
both academic faculty and students can collaborate more
and discover together, understand and meaningfully
utilize knowledge. The use of the Internet can never
however, replace the personal interaction between
students and academics. This can also assist young
unemployed graduates to gain a sense of worth in work.
Students can be self-motivated and even self-learn with
appropriate guidance and facilitation, where they are able
to discover and self-actualize to an extent.
Entrepreneurship education should continue to receive
increased attention and should be more vigorously
researched. Only by utilizing entrepreneurship will South
Africa be able to cope with the challenges of this century.
Universities cannot any longer sell the notion of preparing
students for a “lifelong career”. The education revolution
has arrived (Norman and Spohrer, 1996) and for
successful entrepreneurship, top-notch education is
paramount. Higher Education institutions should be
providing extra entrepreneurial capacity and this should
be especially aimed at high-potential student
entrepreneurs (Driver et al, 2001), as it is these
individuals who will ultimately succeed more and be able
to employ others, thus alleviating the huge levels of
unemployment in society. Opportunities must be created
or seized and vigorously pursued (Timmons, 1999).
Students must be taught to identify opportunities in the
marketplace and their potential risks and should also be
assisted to innovate and create something different in
establishing a new venture and this should begin from the
school years (Van der Berg, 2004). Management skills
must also be taught including planing, organizing, leading
and controlling (Nieman and Bennett, 2002). The private
sector could help them to obtain capital and resources
and develop projects such as that of the DSA to reward
them for their labours.
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With this brief paper about entrepreneurship the role of higher education in south africa angelo nicolaides.
Educational Research (ISSN: 2141-5161) Vol. 2(4) pp. 1043-1050 April 2011
Available online@http://www.interesjournals.org/ER
Copyright © 2011 International Research Journals
Review
Entrepreneurship- the role of Higher Education in South
Africa
Angelo Nicolaides
Angelo Vaal University of Technology. Email: [email protected]
Accepted 09 May, 2011
Entrepreneurship continues to assume a vital role in the South African economy as well as the
economies of many developing nations across the globe. The creation of new business activities has
become a major driver in the economy and these greatly affect economic growth, job creation and
general prosperity and, to an extent, enhance the national competitiveness of the nation in the global
business arena. Although South Africa is trying to intensify the amount of entrepreneurial activity there
are still a wide variety of challenges. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research
shows that a low level of overall education and training is still the biggest challenge facing the nation.
Consequently a critical performance area must be to improve the level of overall education and training
whilst promoting the notion of entrepreneurship as a viable option. This paper strives to answer some
important questions relating to entrepreneurship. First and foremost, why is entrepreneurship
necessary and who, precisely, are entrepreneurs and where may they be found? What can government
do to promote entrepreneurship and what is it that Higher Education can do to develop a greater
entrepreneurial awareness in South Africa given that there is ambivalence as to the degree to which
entrepreneurship can be taught? Are South African universities able to develop cross-functional
thinkers who are innovative and have entrepreneurial skills that are needed in the local economy? To
what extent do the local universities encourage entrepreneurship by making use of innovative
programme designs and are there specialist post-graduate programmes in entrepreneurship or is it
simply regarded as an area business students must be aware of with no explicit academic
entrepreneurship bias? The answers to these questions and their implications for the nation are
discussed in this paper.
Key word: Higher Education, entrepreneurship, government role.
INTRODUCTION
The critically vital role and positive contribution of
entrepreneurship and the promotion of a vigorous
entrepreneurial culture in economic and social
development in South Africa cannot be overstated. At the
national level, South Africa is estimated to have
approximately 2 million small and medium business
enterprises (SMMEs), representing 98% of the total
number of businesses. These SMMEs employ roughly
55% of the country’s labour force and contribute
approximately 42% to the country’s wage bill. A major
problem for South Africa is the fact that 87% of these
SMMEs are survivalist in nature and the majority of these
are black owned, while 41% are owned by women (2006
study on entrepreneurship). In South Africa, the ratio of
entrepreneurs to other workers is roughly 1 to 52. When
compared to the ratio in developed countries, which is of
1 to 10 (Friedrich & Visser, 2005), this is indeed a poor
ratio.
Why is entrepreneurship and why is it necessary?
Entrepreneurship has been defined as a: “process of
conceptualising, organizing, launching and, through
innovation, nurturing a business opportunity into a
potentially high growth venture in a complex, unstable
environment” (Rwigema and Venter (2004).
It is the entrepreneurs who create and give birth to new
technologies, products and services. They also create
new markets and jobs along the way. Entrepreneurs are
savvy risk takers, implementers and innovators. They
transform the socio-economic landscape by creating and
exploiting new opportunities. In a world where people live
in fear of being made redundant and where corporations
“right-size”, “downsize” or “retrench” employees,
whichever term you prefer to use, entrepreneurship is
seen as a viable option, albeit with risks attached.
Entrepreneurship is thus regarded as a “dynamic process
1044 Educ. Res.
of vision, change, and creation. It requires an application
of energy and passion towards the implementation of
new ideas and creative solutions. Essential ingredients
include the willingness to take calculated risks…”
(Kuratko, 2003). Entrepreneurs tend to create products
that fly in the face of established knowledge, and in the
process they challenge the status quo. They are
essentially risk-takers who pursue opportunities that
others may fail to recognize.
By fostering entrepreneurship a society promotes the
competitiveness of businesses. If real transformation is to
occur in South Africa, there must be space for creativity
and imagination in overhauled policies. South Africa is
faced with a multitude of challenges including the great
need for a higher economic growth-rate. There is a
growing need to transform innovations and new creations
or products or services into something more meaningful.
This transformation will create employment. Many
employees are forced into becoming more flexible
functionally and opt to become self-employed in areas
where they feel they have relevant skills and /or training
and education. The promotion of entrepreneurial thinking
and action will in essence, to very large extent create
employment, which is much sought after and desired for
masses of unemployed South Africans. Generally
speaking, entrepreneurship will be a driver for economic
growth and its benefits in the South African scenario will
be huge, particularly when there is a negative business
climate as in a recession. It also facilitates global
economic development and increases the skills of
employees. Human capital and personal development
are able to grow. This is very important given that large
businesses cannot conceivably hope to even absorb 5%
of the surplus of unemployed people. Entrepreneurship
will also create a fresh competitiveness in markets as
entrepreneurs are individuals who identify opportunities
and use these to their own benefit (Maas and Fox, 1997).
The country is obliged by external economic forces to
become far more competitive whilst the changing face of
the workforce and types of work, means that the skills
necessary for socio-economic growth need to be re-
assessed (King and McGrath, 2002).
At the macro-level private sector development and
entrepreneurship growth are essential components for
attaining the United Nations Millennium Development
Goal of poverty reduction. Once sound macroeconomic
policies are in place and market access is provided,
emerging markets need to nurture and develop
entrepreneurs who would be in a position to take
advantage of a myriad of business opportunities created
by increasing globalisation. Economically,
entrepreneurship definitely revitalizes markets as the
creation of new business leads to job creation and this
has a huge knock-on effect on the economy. Socially
speaking, entrepreneurship tends to empower citizens
and it generates innovation and shifts mindsets that were
previously sedate. Such changes have the potential to
successfully integrate developing countries into the global
economy.
Who are entrepreneurs?
The amount of entrepreneurship in any society is reliant
on the presence of three critical dimensions including,
innovativeness; risk-taking; and pro-activeness (Morris
and Kuratko, 2001) but it is something which can also be
learnt (Timmons and Spinelli, 2004). Schumpeter (1934)
regarded entrepreneurs as individuals who are radical
market innovators. He saw them as instigators of
“creative destruction” through the process of innovation.
He believed that all industries are at some point in time,
appropriately replaced by others. This replacement
process he termed as “destruction” making way for
“creation” hence the term “creative destruction”. This
process is ongoing and new entrepreneurial enterprises
are being founded daily in the United States of America
(Census, 2000). South Africa as a growing economy is
also subject to this phenomenon.
Whilst education is not able to totally prepare budding
entrepreneurs to become successful business owners, it
greatly enhances the prospect of success. Entrepreneurs
are generally confident individuals who show promise in
creativity and innovation and have the know-how
obtained from either Higher Education institutions, from
family networks or have simply gone out there and
researched for themselves, often learning by a painful
trial-and-error approach. The education of an
entrepreneur will greatly influence his/her perception of
entrepreneurship. They have the ability to transform a
simple idea into a workable reality. Entrepreneurs tend to
network very well and think conceptually. They basically
see an opportunity in the market and exploit that
opportunity by gathering resources and taking measured
and carefully managed risks. Entrepreneurs are always
results orientated and seek to add value by satisfying the
needs of their market. Many of them are challenged by
their education. The growing interest in entrepreneurship
is leading to more and more universities offering
entrepreneurship as a course of study.
Where do we find entrepreneurs?
Many entrepreneurs have been driven by necessity into
entrepreneurial ventures. A large number of businesses
in various sectors of the economy, such as marginal
mining enterprises, have over the last few years tended
to layoff middle-management and workers and this has
led to unemployment figures escalating. People have
thus been forced in a sense, to start other ventures such
as small businesses. Others have been more fortunate
and have been employed by companies where there is a
need for people who are able to think cross-functionally.
Many South Africa high school students have now
begun to see entrepreneurship as a potential career
choice and this is also the case in the United States of
America (Bardach, 1997). In fact, the demand has been
so great that many American Universities have
established entrepreneurship centres (Katz, 2000). In
South Africa, entrepreneurs are found in the business
world and the community at large, in both the public and
private sectors as well as in the formal and informal
sectors. There are also many entrepreneurs in the Arts
and Science.
What can government do to promote
entrepreneurship?
The South African government has fortunately
recognised the vital contribution that entrepreneurs can
play in the economic development and the social
upliftment of the nation. Consequently, a vital component
of the government’s ten year vision of the Accelerated
and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) is
for the nation to become an entrepreneurial in orientation.
A number of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)
reports highlight that the vast array of problems in
education and training are the major inhibitors of
entrepreneurial growth in South Africa. This is particularly
noticeable in the age groups 18-34 years of age. The
legacy of Apartheid and the inferior quality education
given to blacks in the past has meant that huge numbers
of black people have lost the opportunity to acquire skills
that are required to drive entrepreneurial initiatives. In
addition, critical thinking skills were not encouraged and
most entrepreneurial education was non-existent for
blacks.
Today, individuals who recognize solid business
opportunities are rewarded and those previously
excluded from participating in the economy now have
opportunity to access it. They are also supported by
various development services, and can become fully
integrated into the economy. If South Africa is to meet
and sustain the material needs of all its people, it is
imperative that the government must thus begin to
vigorously develop a spirit of enterprise in which
entrepreneurial ventures are acceptable and worthy of
support. In this regard, individuals should be helped more
to take calculated risks. Creativity, learning and
innovative thought through education should also be
vigorously promoted. Schumpeterian entrepreneurs
(individuals who learn to become entrepreneurs) should
be nurtured whilst Kirznerian entrepreneurs (those who
are naturally entrepreneurially orientated), should be
supported more. Opportunities do exist (objectively)
waiting to be discovered, but it is the actions put in
motion by entrepreneurs to exploit any given opportunity
that in fact create the opportunity (Alvarez and Barney,
2007).
Nicolaides 1045
The “network paradigm” as it has been defined by
Cooke and Morgan (1993), is a major way in which
innovation possibilities can be capitalized on. The
necessary resources such as finance and infrastructure
should to an extent be made available by the
government. Organs should exist at Universities in which
“selection panels” have a greater vision in identifying
people with a natural aptitude for creative and innovative
business development. The individual entrepreneur
should be able to make use of his/her family networks as
well as governmentally assisted social networks.
There is clearly a very strong relationship between
education levels and entrepreneurial activity which lead
to the failure or success of business ventures. As a result
of this entrepreneurship education should be encouraged
as far back as the primary school level as learners’ self-
confidence about their ability to start a business later in
life is to a large degree built on such education.
Innovation and technology in education are important
entrepreneurs should be guided to discover which
opportunities exist if these are not immediately apparent
to them (Casson and Wadeson, 2007). Essentially they
should explore and then exploit opportunities (Foss and
Klein, 2010).
A number of international studies on the theme of
entrepreneurship strongly suggest that the building
blocks of successful small business are the expertise and
skills and the of the business owner. The implication is
thus that predominantly, but not exclusively, black people
should be given opportunities to develop
entrepreneurship skills through affirmative action policies
and other measures.
What can Higher Education do?
It is apparent that the Apartheid economic dispensation in
South Africa provided higher education offerings which
served the then needs of industry well, in that they made
available a workforce that would be trapped so to speak,
in a comfort zone, working for a ‘boss’. The offshoot of
such education was to instill within future university
students the notion that one should graduate and then
seek employment in large corporations or other such
formal sector settings rather than opt for something
innovative and creative as a work option. Today however,
SMMEs are accounting for a sizeable chunk of economic
activity. The result is that HEIs are increasingly obliged to
redefine their role in the South African economy. The
primary function of HEIs should thus now be to seek to
instill a greater entrepreneurial character among
students. HEIs should also strive to carefully consider
local development needs and support the promotion of
entrepreneurial education initiatives, and this should not
only be at the tertiary level but as early as the primary
school level. Government must fully support such
initiatives and promote holistic education (Nieuwenhuizen
1046 Educ. Res.
and Kroon, 2002) at all levels and help to establish
entrepreneurial ventures.
The role of Higher Education is clearly to meet the
socio-economic needs of the country whilst safeguarding
social justice and democratic values. In addition HEIs
have an important role to play in regional innovation
systems and what are termed learning areas (Morgan,
1997). They also serve as knowledge producers, teach
and are agents of exchange in a society (Etzkowitz et al,
2000). The higher education system must therefore
provide the requisite research, knowledge and a highly
skilled workforce if the nation is to compete in the global
arena which is highly dynamic (Cloete and Bunting,
2000). Entrepreneurship is a rapidly developing area of
study in South Africa and it is clearly assuming greater
prominence in the global business arena. There is much
greater demand for entrepreneurship training locally.
Consequently, more faculties are required to offer
entrepreneurship as a course or at least make it a greater
part of existing courses where it does indeed exist.
It is clear from the available literature that education
including entrepreneurship is critical as it contributes to
job creation and helps considerably to reduce poverty
(Timmons and Spinelli, 2004). Higher Education
institutions are regarded as the custodians of knowledge
in society and play a very significant role in developing a
nation. This is why entrepreneurship education should
not merely be a niche activity. This realization has
dawned on Higher Education institutions and has resulted
in a noticeable increase in entrepreneurship programmes
since about 1998. The process is ongoing and it is a
matter of time before there is a relatively fixed
entrepreneurship culture in South Africa, which will
challenge academics and students alike. Many new
challenges are facing universities as they seek to develop
and establish growing entrepreneurship programmes.
South Africa needs to seriously revamp its human capital
strategies if it is to begin to meet the challenges of the
global marketplace.
First and foremost will be the promotion of the very
great potential for innovative start-up business ideas. An
effective investment in national higher education
initiatives concerning entrepreneurship, which will to an
extent meet the needs of the population, will underpin the
international standing of South Africa’s higher education
institutions. Only by recognizing the great value and
importance of entrepreneurship, and by expanding
education about it, can South Africa hope to obtain a pre-
eminent position in the world of education and become
truly competitive economically. In many societies in
Africa, education has always played a very important role
alongside culture in forming an individual (Micere, 1999).
The cultural mindset concerning entrepreneurship in any
region needs to be taken into account and the aspects
which may either promote or go against entrepreneurship
as a career option should be carefully analyzed. In this
regard, the “spatial and cultural proximity” between those
that produce knowledge and those who use knowledge is
particularly salient (Koschatzky, 2001). The South African
education curriculum at school level as well as in Higher
Education system needs to be transformed so as to make
entrepreneurship one of the most important subjects that
should be taught (DoE, 2001). A difficulty could be that to
achieve a measure of parity for students from
disadvantaged backgrounds, access may become limited
to other students. This implies that higher education
would have to be further expanded. There is a problem
however, in that there are no acceptable paradigms or
suitable theories as to what entrepreneurship education
should encompass (Norton et al., 1999). This is a major
challenge for South African universities to overcome by
meaningful research initiatives on their part. By this I
mean that Higher Education institutes should link
research more closely to the market. Vaal University of
Technology, amongst other institutions of Higher
Learning has recognized the importance of
entrepreneurship and states the following on their
website:
“The Vaal University of Technology is committed to the
development of higher education….To achieve
excellence in teaching and learning endeavours by
developing entrepreneurial, technological and cognitive
skills….To create an environment conductive to develop
behavioural, attitudinal competencies and social skills
through cultural, sporting and personal development
activities…To generate innovative and relevant research
which solves the problems of industry and the
community….To create a culture of Lifelong Learning to
empower our communities by sharing knowledge, skills
and resources…All these functions will be enhanced by
national and international partnerships in order to meet
the needs of stakeholders of a democratic society.”
(www.vut.ac.za).
Entrepreneurs should be multi-skilled and flexible
enough to be able to compete globally (Chisholm, 1998),
and also be in a position to identify national and
international trends. They should also be able to isolate
and identify entrepreneurial opportunities that have
potential growth and should then be able to take
advantage of these opportunities. Entrepreneurship
courses should carefully separate business skills from
entrepreneurial skills. Business strategies and business
plans whilst important elements do not really improve a
person’s entrepreneurial skills. Dana (1993) expresses
the opinion, that entrepreneurship education should train
students in knowledge and skill acquisition that would
enable them to bring an idea, process or invention from
conception to full business potential. Whilst practical
experience is essential there must be harmony in
education. By this I mean that the practical components
requiring innovation and creativity, new idea-generation
and practical action, and the academic knowledge
components, need to be carefully counter-balanced so as
to make the study meaningful.
A strong knowledge base for entrepreneurship should
be created via research and the findings of such research
must be disseminated. Students must be in an
educational environment in which entrepreneurial ideas
are generated and tested. The results should then be
made known. The personal growth of students should be
facilitated and their critical faculties should be developed
as far as possible. Given the very wide range of
personalities, the characters of students should be built
so as to make their learning more significant. Ideally,
students should be inspired to learn for themselves in an
environment which promotes the idea of lifelong learning
and an ethos of personal research should pervade every
higher education institution and be part of the mindset of
each and every student. Entrepreneurship courses at
Universities can make a very significant contribution in
promoting meaningful entrepreneurship, as they could
allay the fears of failure of potential entrepreneurs by
educating the students about pitfalls and risks to avoid
when embarking on a new business venture. Students
will thus have a fuller understanding of entrepreneurship
as a phenomenon and surely become more competent
stakeholders in entrepreneurship at whatever level;
investor or employee, manager or entrepreneur
(Maranville, 1992). Young adults should be made
capable and be taught to become self-reliant rather than
expect to be fended for in an economy which is limited in
capability and which has approximately a 24%
unemployment rate. In a nutshell, as entrepreneurship is
a philosophy which can help the South African economy
to grow, it should be supported as a total system
(Timmons, 1999).
Another major challenge facing entrepreneurship
education in Higher Education institutions is an academic
faculty body, which has entrepreneurial ability and the
necessary qualifications to make the subject intelligible
and meaningful to students. There are clearly shortages
in suitably qualified academic staff to teach
entrepreneurship. While some faculties have a glut of
PhD academics who cannot find suitable employment,
entrepreneurship has too few suitable academics
(Pfannestial, 1998).
In many parts of the world, South Africa being no
exception, entrepreneurship is battling to find academic
legitimacy. Entrepreneurship should be a separate stand
-alone subject and not be viewed as simply part of
Business Management or part of an interdisciplinary field.
It is also good and well to have guest speakers and guest
lecturers, as these tend to offer a measure of interaction
with entrepreneurial business people, but this is not really
enough. Academic staff able to alter the mindsets of
students and who do have the ability to effectively teach
basic business skills and develop creative thinking in their
students by giving them practical assignments, whether
Nicolaides 1047
individual or group, should be the priority. Course content
should focus on the skills and knowledge an entrepreneur
would need to be successful (Benson, 1989). What is
paramount is that potential entrepreneurs see themselves
as self-reliant, aware, creative, analytical and
knowledgeable individuals who are able to successfully
become self-employed and make a meaningful
contribution to the society in which they live. They require
an entrepreneurial perspective (Kuratko, 2003). This
perspective should ideally be developed at high school
levels where more business related subjects should be
added to existing curricula, perhaps being made
compulsory to an extent.
Higher Education institutions create an environmental
awareness of entrepreneurship and its many facets and
support entrepreneurship in many ways (see figure 1).
This learning should be life-long learning and is
necessary to sustain individuals in society in this new
century where business is changing (Drucker, 1995). It is
also invaluable to the promotion of the philosophy. Higher
Education institutions need to ask the question as to what
the appropriate relationship between education and the
ever-changing workplace is and what it is precisely that
employers are seeking in terms of skills and capabilities
in young people entering the world of work?
Universities could be more supportive of entrepreneurs,
as is the case at the University of Johannesburg, which
involves students in gaining practical experience in direct
selling and practical sales management. Students
completing the National Diplomas in Marketing, Retail
Business, Sport Management, Small Business
Management and the Certificates in Marketing and Sales
as well as the Foundation Programme, have the
opportunity to gain two years of practical sales and one
year of practical sales management experience. Once
they complete their studies some students may it difficult
to obtain full-time employment. By participating in the
above project in which they do practical sales for any of
the Direct Selling Association (DSA) companies, they are
able to generate income for themselves and have
opportunities for personal and entrepreneurial
development. This opportunity granted through the
partnership with the DSA gives students a competitive
advantage. Students who successfully complete the
respective modules could reflect on their CVs that they
have two years sales experience as well as one year
experience in managing a sales team. On a macro level,
this project contributes towards alleviating unemployment
and instilling n entrepreneurial spirit which our country so
desperately requires (Govender, 2005). Universities
should also be more analytical and reflective of
entrepreneurship and its huge potential to impact
positively on the economy of the entire southern African
subcontinent. They have great potential to influence the
decision of an individual for or against a career as an
entrepreneur. This is particularly important for young
1048 Educ. Res.
HIGHER EDUCATION
ROLES AND FUNCTIONS
TO AID STUDENTS IN
OPTING FOR
ENTREPRENEURIAL
Supportive
Role
Catalytic
Role
Reflective
Role
Environmental
Awareness
Promoting
Analytic
Role
Guide individual student
Assist Socialization
Lessen administration
Guide on finance issues
Encourage family
Figure 1: Higher education's pivotal role in entrepreneurship
unemployed individuals who are either, graduates or
non-graduates, women and the unemployed in any
particular society.
Places of learning should be the catalysts of
entrepreneurial motivation and should drive it forward as
a viable alternative to working for someone else.
Teaching should be facilitated to maximize the potential
of individual students and to encourage a sense of
curiosity and motivation in them and they should become
alert and aware about opportunities (Kirzner, 2009).
Above all, Universities should be seen as places where
there is a teamwork mentality between students and
academics with respect to things entrepreneurial. New
patterns of work organization are appearing in the
workplace and team-based work is increasing, with fewer
levels of management and supervision, multi-tasking if
not multi-skilling, and a greater need for effective
communication skills (Probert, 1999). Learning groups
could be established which would go a long way to
sustain a climate of learning. In these groups of students,
they would inspire each other and assist each other, with
the guidance of academic staff, to succeed with a
business venture.
CONCLUSION
Entrepreneurship gives students a new way of looking at
the world, irrespective of whether or not they opt to
develop their own enterprises. New business start-up
activity is probably one of the most important social
activities for countries around the world. The rise of new
business significantly affects economies and creates jobs
and generally makes society more prosperous.
Entrepreneurship is now a mainstream in many countries
around the world. The young entrepreneur faces many
challenges in attempting to launch and grow potentially
good businesses. About 11 % of entrepreneurs
attempting to create high growth businesses, known as
“opportunity entrepreneurs” expect to provide 20 or more
jobs over a period of 60 months as opposed to 2% of
entrepreneurs who are “entrepreneurs by necessity”
(Zacharakis et al, 2001). This type of mentality is
common globally, therefore, a vision of what
entrepreneurship is all about will have very important
implications on the economy as a whole. It should be
fostered in light of job creation and the alleviation of
poverty amongst the masses. Entrepreneurship provides
individuals with career options and has great potential to
aid society to become self-sustaining (Scott, 2003). It is a
means of socio-economic upliftment for the downtrodden
in society and should be vigorously promoted at school
and higher education levels.
Students embarking on an entrepreneurial career path
should have greater access to government financial
support throughout their study. Private sector investment
initiatives in entrepreneurial education should also be
bolstered and in this regard, the government should
provide incentives to the private sector enterprises which
support quality entrepreneurial programmes. Business
could, for example, assist universities to develop digital
libraries which would make entrepreneurship initiatives
worldwide accessible to virtually all entrepreneurship
students. This would also enable students to contact
specialists in the field and they could maintain electronic
links. Each entrepreneurial student could interact with
vast numbers of people around the world, quickly and
simply and relatively inexpensively. The vision of the
future can be drastically altered for entrepreneurship
students by the use of the Internet. Higher Education
institutions must become lively communities of
intellectuals once again, as in the Renaissance, in which
both academic faculty and students can collaborate more
and discover together, understand and meaningfully
utilize knowledge. The use of the Internet can never
however, replace the personal interaction between
students and academics. This can also assist young
unemployed graduates to gain a sense of worth in work.
Students can be self-motivated and even self-learn with
appropriate guidance and facilitation, where they are able
to discover and self-actualize to an extent.
Entrepreneurship education should continue to receive
increased attention and should be more vigorously
researched. Only by utilizing entrepreneurship will South
Africa be able to cope with the challenges of this century.
Universities cannot any longer sell the notion of preparing
students for a “lifelong career”. The education revolution
has arrived (Norman and Spohrer, 1996) and for
successful entrepreneurship, top-notch education is
paramount. Higher Education institutions should be
providing extra entrepreneurial capacity and this should
be especially aimed at high-potential student
entrepreneurs (Driver et al, 2001), as it is these
individuals who will ultimately succeed more and be able
to employ others, thus alleviating the huge levels of
unemployment in society. Opportunities must be created
or seized and vigorously pursued (Timmons, 1999).
Students must be taught to identify opportunities in the
marketplace and their potential risks and should also be
assisted to innovate and create something different in
establishing a new venture and this should begin from the
school years (Van der Berg, 2004). Management skills
must also be taught including planing, organizing, leading
and controlling (Nieman and Bennett, 2002). The private
sector could help them to obtain capital and resources
and develop projects such as that of the DSA to reward
them for their labours.
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