Description
In this brief breakdown explores entrepreneurship training in the apparel and fashion design sector through distance mode.
Entrepreneurship Training in the Apparel and Fashion Design Sector through
Distance Mode:
A Strategy for Facing the Challenge of Growing Unemployment in India
Veena Rao, Assistant Professor, Sikkim Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka,
[email protected];[email protected]
Dr. H. G. Joshi, Associate Professor, Manipal Institute of Management, Manipal, Karnataka,
[email protected]
Community Development
2.1
Globally, the micro and small enterprises (MSEs) are considered the engine of economic growth and,
MSEs constitute over 90% of total enterprises in most of the economies. MSEs have the highest rates
of employment growth that too at low capital cost. Research studies on small firms and
entrepreneurship (Thurick, 1994; Reyonlds et al. 2001, 2002; Gorman et al. 1997; Bruyat and Julien,
2000, Heinonen, J. et al; Sunter, 1994) and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Reynolds et al.,
2001) emphasize that the small firms are the real driving force behind economic growth and creation
of millions of jobs. An entrepreneur through an enterprise generates conditions for:
a. increasing opportunities for employment (comprising various competitive skill sets);
b. additional wealth creation;
c. introduction and dissemination of new methods and technology; and
d. overall economic growth.
(http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/NKC_Entrepreneurship.pdf).The
definition of entrepreneur as a person who earns money using the available resources so as to cater
to his or her financial needs while also creating opportunities for other people to get employed
highlights the relation of entrepreneurship with that of economic development and the reduction of
unemployment.(http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/40916.aspx)
Keeping in view the importance of the MSEs for the economic growth and employment generation, it
is proposed to discuss the strategy for entrepreneurial training in fashion and apparel design.
IMPORTANCE OF FASHION APPAREL DESIGN AS ENTREPRENEURIAL AVENUE
The textile industry is one of the important sectors in Indian economy in terms of output, foreign
exchange earnings and employment. National Skill Development Program (NSDP) and Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) emphasise the importance of textiles sector with
high employment potential in Indian economy. The garment production units alone provide 40% of
jobs in the small scale sector, besides offering ample opportunities for entrepreneurs to sprout and
flourish.
Small businesses in creative areas like fashion are considered as the depository of the traditional
skills and creativity necessary to penetrate or/and extend markets and can provide stable employment
and income generation to the diverse communities and to those with different levels of education
(UNIDO Report).
However, if governments and nations are to harness this potentially economically vibrant sector, it is
important to understand the needs of the entrepreneurial education. This necessitates the
educationalists to be cognizant of entrepreneurship requirements of the fashion and apparel design
sector. Galloway et al., 2005 opines that educators, including the universities, have an obligation to
meet students’ expectations with regard to preparation for the economy in which they will operate.
The industrial sector has to cope with the flexibility and responsiveness and it is incumbent on the
educational system to demonstrate the same traits (Expert Group on Future Skills Needs).
FASHION AND APPAREL ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION
Reynolds et al. (2002), opines that education (Scott and Twomey, 1988) is a key element
(prerequisite) that enhances economic growth through entrepreneurship and creation of graduate
entrepreneurs. Most of the entrepreneurial education in India is concerned with raising awareness of
entrepreneurship which revolves around the roles and functions of the entrepreneurs in the economy
and society. A paradigm shift is required where we concentrate on the entrepreneurial education
tailored to different disciplines.
Fashion and apparel design entrepreneurial education needs to be planned in relation to the
education of the enterprise, for the enterprise and through the enterprise (entrepreneurial classes
suggested by Jamieson, 1984).
Entrepreneurial education of the enterprise: Fashion and apparel design is a specialized sector
which requires the aspiring entrepreneurs to be introduced to the fashion entrepreneurship and
fashion entrepreneurial traits such as:
Ability to develop a style that is distinctive, consistent and new
Ability to manage the process of communication on which fashion depends
Ability to manage strategic and marketing issues
Entrepreneurial education for the enterprise: This includes imparting knowledge and skills required
to start and grow the enterprise. It includes entrepreneurship education through a program of action
learning that deals with real-world problems and adopts many of the entrepreneurship education
principles (Kirby, 2002).
Entrepreneurial education through the enterprise: This includes education using the new venture
creation process. This would help the students acquire the business understanding and skills required
to run a particular enterprise.
Success of entrepreneurship in fashion and apparel design involves combining design, business and
manufacturing knowledge. Academic education should offer students a chance to see the latest
developments in their selected field, thus giving a clear view to implement them in the future business.
PROPOSED STRATEGY FOR FASHION AND APPAREL DESIGN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
EDUCATION THROUGH DISTANCE MODE
For strengthening MSEs, the Government of India has formulated the NSDP and stipulated a target of
skilling 500 million people by 2022. Distance Educational Institutes can be a promising medium for
imparting entrepreneurial education to a wide array of students. It is emphasized in national
knowledge commission report on entrepreneurship
(http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/NKC_Entrepreneurship.pdf) that
growing the pool of skilled people which is a key priority entirely depends upon access to quality
education. The key challenges relate to ensuring access, inclusiveness and excellence. Greater
practical exposure, critical analysis, entrepreneurship curriculum, incubation and mentoring, industry-
research linkages can help in fostering entrepreneurship. Essentially, the planning of the curriculum
and the teaching methods for entrepreneurial education needs to be analysed. We need to develop a
strategy which would address the requirements of the entrepreneurs entering the field.
WHAT TO TEACH?
The entrepreneurship in fashion and apparel design should focus on opportunities emerging through
creativity, preparing the graduates to work as freelancers or self-employed or creating small
enterprise. The curriculum to be developed should be based on the collective knowledge of the
educationalists, government agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) running
entrepreneurship programs, successful entrepreneurs in the field and business partners. Different
areas that need to be covered are:
Fashion and apparel design content: The framework of the entrepreneurial curriculum in this
should include the concepts of fashion and apparel industry with focus on design development
process, fashion forecasting, production etc.
Entrepreneurship content: The entrepreneurial traits required for the enterprise such as creativity,
innovation, identifying opportunities in a climate of change, practice of entrepreneurship and
characteristics of entrepreneurs needs to be a part of the curriculum. Spotting innovative opportunities
and making them happen at the calculative risk should be the focus. This would prepare the students
for the enterprise.
Business content: The curriculum should prepare the students to the business content based on the
type of entrepreneurial avenue. It should broadly include topics such as marketing, trend research,
market research, branding, finance and human resources, design and product cycle etc. This will help
the students develop the skills base to encourage more enterprising behaviour and gain integrated
and holistic business management perspective.
Legal aspects: The legal aspects such as the intellectual property rights, employment legislation,
insurance, labour acts etc., would help the students face different challenges in the process of
creating and sustaining the enterprise.
Communication skills: Generating sales is the foremost problem which is totally based on the ability
to convince the potential customers. A fashion and apparel entrepreneur should be in a position to
convince the customer that his/her business products would satisfy their requirements. This requires
entrepreneur to possess proper communication skills.
HOW TO TEACH?
The delivery of the content through traditional lecture-driven teaching methodologies is not relevant to
entrepreneurship courses, as they may inhibit the development of entrepreneurial skills and
characteristics (Kirby D.A, 2004). Entrepreneurial education revolves around innovation and
effectiveness which has its roots in action oriented and student-inclusive teaching forms rather than
the traditional teaching forms. There is a need to shift to more interactive learning approaches where
the teacher becomes more of a moderator than a lecturer. The effective methods of teaching
entrepreneurial based programs are given below:
Group and team techniques of creating new business ideas
Use of case studies
Business planning workshops
Guest speakers mainly entrepreneurs in the field
Business simulation
(http://www.emuni.si/Files/knjiznica/78_EC-Entrepreneurship-in-Higher-Education-2008.pdf)
Some of the key points to be noted are as follows:
Business plan activities should be based on real business ideas
Case studies should be live
Experience-based teaching methods prove to be a fruitful tool
How can these principles be applied in education through distance mode? The answer lies in the
partnerships.
The Educational Institutions should focus on developing partnerships with other educational
institutions, different funding wings of the Government (such as Textiles, Labour, Human Resource
Development (HRD), etc.), manufacturers’ associations, NGOs, labour organisations, successful
entrepreneurs of the field etc., for the curriculum development and the content delivery. Research by
Hytti and O’Gorman, 2004 found that the trainers lacked the skills and information required about
entrepreneurship to provide students with the necessary skills and knowledge for entrepreneurial
education. The educators selected from various partner institutions need to be trained on how to
address students. The participation of real entrepreneurs in teaching can help in bringing the practical
experiences to the students. In the context of teaching entrepreneurship, it is interesting to note that a
high visibility of entrepreneurial commitment of the institutions could be achieved through the
presence of dedicated spaces such as ‘hatcheries’ or incubators for students start-up plans. We
would concentrate on the fashion incubators to support the students and the method of making these
accessible for students. A model including these concepts is given in the annexure 1.
Incubators for fashion and apparel entrepreneurial training
Incubators are becoming the entrepreneurial schools of tomorrow as cited by Albert P. et al. 2003 and
are recognized in both developed and developing countries as important instruments for promoting
entrepreneurship development (Adegbite.O, 2001). Innovative start-ups by the students could be
encouraged through the dedicated and supportive internal incubators or by easy access to external
incubators. It is proposed that the universities have their own incubation centers aimed to help the
aspiring entrepreneurs in the start-up of the business or direct them to the external incubation centers.
Incubators for fashion and apparel training should function with the aim of rendering the creative
potential of fashion and apparel design entrepreneurs into commercially viable businesses. It is
generally seen that the entrepreneurs face significant obstacles to start a business, e.g. high-fixed
and entry costs, lack of access to equity capital, insufficient technical and market information, and
weak management skills.The incubators function with the assistance provided from professionals of
clothing industry including manufacturers, sales reps, buyers, factors, sewing contractors, suppliers,
pattern makers and designers; and they should entail the following:
Introducing creative entrepreneurs to business skills as well as to financial sources and legal
assistance
Provision of physical infrastructure
Provision of technical support from the professionals in the field
Provision of common marketing activities and network support for creative entrepreneurs and
their activities
The proposed model for the incubation centers used for distance learning institutions has two stages:
Pre-incubators where the entrepreneurs with strong business idea would be exposed to the
basic entrepreneurial traits and educational concepts that include the following:
o fashion related
o business
o entrepreneurial
o legal concepts etc.
Incubators where the idea would be developed into a proposition for implementation.
The four areas of which create value to the incubation process as suggested by Campbell et al.
(1985) includes:
diagnosis of business needs
selection and monitored application of business services
provision of financing
access to the incubator network.
Similarly, Hackett and Dilts (2004) postulate that the following key factors contribute to incubatees’
success through incubators:
providing dynamic, proactive feedback to incubates
assisting incubatees with business planning
encouraging incubatees to develop control systems during the early stages of incubatee
development.
The model proposed is based on different models of the incubation centers reviewed by the author.
Pre-incubators – These are considered as the platform for the development of the product idea and
diagnose the business needs. These are entrepreneurship centres offering a range of fashion and
apparel design courses to the incubatees. This could be a part of the university campus, the learning
centres, NGOs etc., where the incubatee is provided with dynamic feedback of the business idea
proposed and assistance provided for planning the business idea. This should include teaching the
entrepreneurs with a feasible business idea and involved in a learning process that would help them
to acquire the tools and skills required to implement their ideas for a successful start-up. The content
focus should include basic entrepreneurial traits and related educational concepts. The teaching focus
should be aimed at imparting the learning experience through learner centered approach with relevant
teaching tools.
Incubators – An accepted definition of incubators as per the US National Business Incubation
Association can be given as incubators provide hands on management assistance, access to
financing and orchestrated exposure to critical business or technical support services. They also offer
entrepreneurial firms shared office services, access to equipment, flexible leases and expandable
space – all under one roof. Incubators, particularly in universities, can act as a laboratory for
commercialising the ideas of academics and provide a training ground for entrepreneurs. The function
of internal incubators cannot work in isolation. It needs to be connected to different partners of the
distance educational institutions which can foster the entrepreneurial education. At a general level,
the concept of fashion and apparel design incubation centres refer to the practice of providing low-
cost, property-based facilities, shared services, capital equipment, business and technical services as
well as access to finance, including venture capital and business networks to nurture the development
of new firms.
A model that could be used by the distance education universities for imparting entrepreneurial
education through pre-incubators and the incubation centres using blended (ICT and print media) is
given in the annexure 2.
The proposed strategy and plan of action given below is based on the open system approach which is
a technique for understanding, predicting and controlling the interaction and interdependence of the
major parts of the system in a given situation, to achieve specified objectives. The interrelation of
different stakeholders and entrepreneurial development is given with reference to four areas of value
incubation process as suggested by Campbell et al. (1985).
Table: 1 Objectives and strategy for entrepreneurial education
Objectives Strategies/Policies Inputs and Infrastructure Expected
Outputs
Institutions Support
infrastructure
Promoting fashion
and apparel
entrepreneurial
avenues
Providing
comprehensive
information in
developing and
sustaining
entrepreneurial
avenue in the area
of fashion and
apparel design
Providing support
services by
involving the local
institutions, NGOs,
business
organizations,
government
enterprises etc.
Providing efficient
business support
network
Government
strategies to be given
priority in promoting
the avenues
(National
Entrepreneurship
Network,
BharatiyaYuva Shakti
Trust, Mutual Credit
Guarantee Fund
Scheme, Network
Enterprises Fund,
Sectorial Skill
Development
Initiative etc.)
Main Stake
holder
Distance
education
University
Partner Stake
holders
Certified
Learning
Centres
NGOs
Local
Institutions
Business
partners
Government
agencies
Funding
agencies
Pedagogical
support –
educational
requirements in
establishing
fashion and
apparel
entrepreneurial
avenue and
providing
resources in terms
of print and online
media. Guidelines
for establishing the
incubation centre
including the
developing
business idea,
access to market,
finance, networks
etc.
Support in
education and
training, skills
required in
developing
business idea,
developing
entrepreneurial
traits
Marketing through
fairs, networks,
exhibitions, access
to capital, funds,
awards
Entrepreneur with
strong base of
entrepreneurial
education
required for
starting and
sustaining the
business – a
means of
contributing to
employment
generation and
the economic
development of
the nation
Table 2: Proposed Plan of Action
Action Description Output Stakeholders Involved
Planning the curriculum
and the content
development
Constitution of Board of
Studies:
to formulate the
learning objectives
to formulate the
curriculum based on
the objectives
to develop the
content required for
entrepreneurial
education of the
Standard curriculum and
learning material.
University, educational
experts from other
Universities, successful
entrepreneurs,
government agencies
enterprise, for the
enterprise and
through the
enterprise.
to formulate the
guidelines for
identification and
certification of the
authorised training
centres
to formulate the
guidelines for
establishing the
support network
Identification and
certification of the
authorized training
centers – (University
learning center / NGO /
Local institution for
imparting entrepreneurial
education)
To identify and authorise
the training centre based
on the guidelines
formulated by the
university.
A learning centre fully
equipped working towards
accomplishing the
objectives
University, Government
agencies, Business
partners
Implement and evaluate
the learning objectives
Implementing the
curriculum (pre-
incubators)
print media
online resources (char
rooms, discussion
forums, video
resources etc.)
group and team
techniques
case studies
workshops
training
developing the
business idea
Evaluation of the learning
objectives:
paper and pen test
continuous evaluation
of the practical aspects
evaluation of the
business idea
Incubation centres
continuous evaluation
of developing the
business idea into a
revenue generating
product
The flow chart of the task
analysis is given in the
annexure 3.
A fashion and apparel
entrepreneur trained to
start and sustain the
enterprise.
University, University
learning centre / NGO /
Local institution,
Successful entrepreneurs,
Business partners
CONCLUSION
As yet, there is no common agreement over what constitutes entrepreneurship education in the area
of fashion and apparel design. The paper presented is an attempt made to propose the overall picture
of the entrepreneurial education in fashion and apparel design with focus towards the following
aspects:
Content
Teaching
Partnership for the development and delivery of the concepts
Incubation centers as the challenging means of developing the entrepreneurs
The pre-incubators and the incubators should be designed to help the budding entrepreneurs to be
exposed to concepts that would help them in strengthening their business idea and test the
implications of the concepts in new situations and gain concrete experience.
REFERENCES:
1. Adegbite, O. 2001, ‘Business incubators and small enterprise development: the Nigerian
experience’, Small Business Economics, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 157-166.
2. Albert, P., and Gaynor, L. 2003, ‘National contexts, incubator families and trends in incubation
–views from four countries’,paper presented at the 48th ICSB World Conference, Belfast.
3. Bruyat, C. and Julien, P.A. 2000, ‘Defining the field of research in entrepreneurship’, Journal
of Business Venturing, vol. 16,no.2, pp.165-80.
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business incubation and economic development’, Economic Development Review, vol. 3, no.
2, pp. 43-49.
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workplace of the future’, available at: www.forfas.ie
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for Quality and Relevance. New Delhi: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry.
7. Gorman, G., Hanlon, D. and King, W. 1997, ‘Some research perspectives on
entrepreneurship education, enterprise education and education for small business
management’, International Small Business Journal, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 56-77.
8. Galloway, L., Anderson, M., Brown, W. and Whittam, G. 2005, ‘The impact of
entrepreneurship education in HE’, Report for Business Education Support Team.
9. Heinonen, J., Poikkijoki, S.A 2006, ‘An entrepreneurial-directed approach to entrepreneurship
education: mission impossible?’,Journal of Management Development, vol. 25 no. 1, pp.80-
94.
10. Hackett, S.M. and Dilts, D.M. 2004, ‘A systematic review of business incubation research’,
The Journal of Technology Transfer, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 55-82.
11. Hytti, U. and O’ Gorman, C. 2004, ‘What is enterprise education? An analysis of the
objectives and methods of enterprise education programmes in four European countries’,
Education + Training, vol. 46, no 1, pp. 11-23.
12. Jamieson, I. 1984, ‘Education for Enterprise’, in Watts, A.G. and Moran, P. (Eds), CRAC,
Ballinger, Cambridge, MA, pp. 19-27.
13. Kirby, D. 2002, ‘Entrepreneurship education: can business schools meet the challenge?’,
presented at RENT Conference, Barcelona, November.
14. Kirby, D. A. 2004, ‘Entrepreneurship education and incubators: pre-incubators, incubators and
science parks as enterprise laboratories’, presented at 14
th
Annual IntEnt Conference,
available at www.intent-conference.com/DWD/_621/upload/media_1543.pdf
15. National Skill Development Report available at
labour.gov.in/policy/NationalSkillDevelopmentPolicyMar09.pdf.
16. Reynolds, P., Hay, M. and Camp, S. 2001, ‘Global entrepreneurship monitor 2001’, London
Business School, London.
17. Reynolds, P., Hay, M. and Camp, S. 2002, ‘Global entrepreneurship monitor 2002’, London
Business School, London.
18. Reynolds, P.D., Bygrave, W.D., Autio, E., Cox, L.W. and Hay, M. 2002, Global
entrepreneurship monitor: executive report, GEM, Babson College and Ewing Marion
Kaufmann Foundation, Wellesley, MA and Kansas City, MO, available at:
www.gemconsortium.org.
19. Sunter, C. 1998, ‘We need to focus on creating an entrepreneurial class’, Entrepreneurship
Update, November, pp. 2.
20. Scott, M.G. and D.F. Twomey 1988, ‘The long-term supply of entrepreneurs: students' career
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Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
22. US National Business Incubation Association 2001, Best practice in action: guidelines for
implementing first class business incubation programs. NBIA.
23. UNIDO report on ‘Creative industries and micro & small scale enterprise development – A
contribution to poverty alleviation’, available at
www.unido.org/fileadmin/user.../69264_creative_industries.pdf.
24.http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/NKC_Entrepreneurship.pdf
25.http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/40916.aspx
26.http://www.emuni.si/Files/knjiznica/78_EC-Entrepreneurship-in-Higher-Education-2008.pdf
Annexure 1
Annexure 2
Annexure 3
doc_147817703.pdf
In this brief breakdown explores entrepreneurship training in the apparel and fashion design sector through distance mode.
Entrepreneurship Training in the Apparel and Fashion Design Sector through
Distance Mode:
A Strategy for Facing the Challenge of Growing Unemployment in India
Veena Rao, Assistant Professor, Sikkim Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka,
[email protected];[email protected]
Dr. H. G. Joshi, Associate Professor, Manipal Institute of Management, Manipal, Karnataka,
[email protected]
Community Development
2.1
Globally, the micro and small enterprises (MSEs) are considered the engine of economic growth and,
MSEs constitute over 90% of total enterprises in most of the economies. MSEs have the highest rates
of employment growth that too at low capital cost. Research studies on small firms and
entrepreneurship (Thurick, 1994; Reyonlds et al. 2001, 2002; Gorman et al. 1997; Bruyat and Julien,
2000, Heinonen, J. et al; Sunter, 1994) and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Reynolds et al.,
2001) emphasize that the small firms are the real driving force behind economic growth and creation
of millions of jobs. An entrepreneur through an enterprise generates conditions for:
a. increasing opportunities for employment (comprising various competitive skill sets);
b. additional wealth creation;
c. introduction and dissemination of new methods and technology; and
d. overall economic growth.
(http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/NKC_Entrepreneurship.pdf).The
definition of entrepreneur as a person who earns money using the available resources so as to cater
to his or her financial needs while also creating opportunities for other people to get employed
highlights the relation of entrepreneurship with that of economic development and the reduction of
unemployment.(http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/40916.aspx)
Keeping in view the importance of the MSEs for the economic growth and employment generation, it
is proposed to discuss the strategy for entrepreneurial training in fashion and apparel design.
IMPORTANCE OF FASHION APPAREL DESIGN AS ENTREPRENEURIAL AVENUE
The textile industry is one of the important sectors in Indian economy in terms of output, foreign
exchange earnings and employment. National Skill Development Program (NSDP) and Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) emphasise the importance of textiles sector with
high employment potential in Indian economy. The garment production units alone provide 40% of
jobs in the small scale sector, besides offering ample opportunities for entrepreneurs to sprout and
flourish.
Small businesses in creative areas like fashion are considered as the depository of the traditional
skills and creativity necessary to penetrate or/and extend markets and can provide stable employment
and income generation to the diverse communities and to those with different levels of education
(UNIDO Report).
However, if governments and nations are to harness this potentially economically vibrant sector, it is
important to understand the needs of the entrepreneurial education. This necessitates the
educationalists to be cognizant of entrepreneurship requirements of the fashion and apparel design
sector. Galloway et al., 2005 opines that educators, including the universities, have an obligation to
meet students’ expectations with regard to preparation for the economy in which they will operate.
The industrial sector has to cope with the flexibility and responsiveness and it is incumbent on the
educational system to demonstrate the same traits (Expert Group on Future Skills Needs).
FASHION AND APPAREL ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION
Reynolds et al. (2002), opines that education (Scott and Twomey, 1988) is a key element
(prerequisite) that enhances economic growth through entrepreneurship and creation of graduate
entrepreneurs. Most of the entrepreneurial education in India is concerned with raising awareness of
entrepreneurship which revolves around the roles and functions of the entrepreneurs in the economy
and society. A paradigm shift is required where we concentrate on the entrepreneurial education
tailored to different disciplines.
Fashion and apparel design entrepreneurial education needs to be planned in relation to the
education of the enterprise, for the enterprise and through the enterprise (entrepreneurial classes
suggested by Jamieson, 1984).
Entrepreneurial education of the enterprise: Fashion and apparel design is a specialized sector
which requires the aspiring entrepreneurs to be introduced to the fashion entrepreneurship and
fashion entrepreneurial traits such as:
Ability to develop a style that is distinctive, consistent and new
Ability to manage the process of communication on which fashion depends
Ability to manage strategic and marketing issues
Entrepreneurial education for the enterprise: This includes imparting knowledge and skills required
to start and grow the enterprise. It includes entrepreneurship education through a program of action
learning that deals with real-world problems and adopts many of the entrepreneurship education
principles (Kirby, 2002).
Entrepreneurial education through the enterprise: This includes education using the new venture
creation process. This would help the students acquire the business understanding and skills required
to run a particular enterprise.
Success of entrepreneurship in fashion and apparel design involves combining design, business and
manufacturing knowledge. Academic education should offer students a chance to see the latest
developments in their selected field, thus giving a clear view to implement them in the future business.
PROPOSED STRATEGY FOR FASHION AND APPAREL DESIGN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
EDUCATION THROUGH DISTANCE MODE
For strengthening MSEs, the Government of India has formulated the NSDP and stipulated a target of
skilling 500 million people by 2022. Distance Educational Institutes can be a promising medium for
imparting entrepreneurial education to a wide array of students. It is emphasized in national
knowledge commission report on entrepreneurship
(http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/NKC_Entrepreneurship.pdf) that
growing the pool of skilled people which is a key priority entirely depends upon access to quality
education. The key challenges relate to ensuring access, inclusiveness and excellence. Greater
practical exposure, critical analysis, entrepreneurship curriculum, incubation and mentoring, industry-
research linkages can help in fostering entrepreneurship. Essentially, the planning of the curriculum
and the teaching methods for entrepreneurial education needs to be analysed. We need to develop a
strategy which would address the requirements of the entrepreneurs entering the field.
WHAT TO TEACH?
The entrepreneurship in fashion and apparel design should focus on opportunities emerging through
creativity, preparing the graduates to work as freelancers or self-employed or creating small
enterprise. The curriculum to be developed should be based on the collective knowledge of the
educationalists, government agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) running
entrepreneurship programs, successful entrepreneurs in the field and business partners. Different
areas that need to be covered are:
Fashion and apparel design content: The framework of the entrepreneurial curriculum in this
should include the concepts of fashion and apparel industry with focus on design development
process, fashion forecasting, production etc.
Entrepreneurship content: The entrepreneurial traits required for the enterprise such as creativity,
innovation, identifying opportunities in a climate of change, practice of entrepreneurship and
characteristics of entrepreneurs needs to be a part of the curriculum. Spotting innovative opportunities
and making them happen at the calculative risk should be the focus. This would prepare the students
for the enterprise.
Business content: The curriculum should prepare the students to the business content based on the
type of entrepreneurial avenue. It should broadly include topics such as marketing, trend research,
market research, branding, finance and human resources, design and product cycle etc. This will help
the students develop the skills base to encourage more enterprising behaviour and gain integrated
and holistic business management perspective.
Legal aspects: The legal aspects such as the intellectual property rights, employment legislation,
insurance, labour acts etc., would help the students face different challenges in the process of
creating and sustaining the enterprise.
Communication skills: Generating sales is the foremost problem which is totally based on the ability
to convince the potential customers. A fashion and apparel entrepreneur should be in a position to
convince the customer that his/her business products would satisfy their requirements. This requires
entrepreneur to possess proper communication skills.
HOW TO TEACH?
The delivery of the content through traditional lecture-driven teaching methodologies is not relevant to
entrepreneurship courses, as they may inhibit the development of entrepreneurial skills and
characteristics (Kirby D.A, 2004). Entrepreneurial education revolves around innovation and
effectiveness which has its roots in action oriented and student-inclusive teaching forms rather than
the traditional teaching forms. There is a need to shift to more interactive learning approaches where
the teacher becomes more of a moderator than a lecturer. The effective methods of teaching
entrepreneurial based programs are given below:
Group and team techniques of creating new business ideas
Use of case studies
Business planning workshops
Guest speakers mainly entrepreneurs in the field
Business simulation
(http://www.emuni.si/Files/knjiznica/78_EC-Entrepreneurship-in-Higher-Education-2008.pdf)
Some of the key points to be noted are as follows:
Business plan activities should be based on real business ideas
Case studies should be live
Experience-based teaching methods prove to be a fruitful tool
How can these principles be applied in education through distance mode? The answer lies in the
partnerships.
The Educational Institutions should focus on developing partnerships with other educational
institutions, different funding wings of the Government (such as Textiles, Labour, Human Resource
Development (HRD), etc.), manufacturers’ associations, NGOs, labour organisations, successful
entrepreneurs of the field etc., for the curriculum development and the content delivery. Research by
Hytti and O’Gorman, 2004 found that the trainers lacked the skills and information required about
entrepreneurship to provide students with the necessary skills and knowledge for entrepreneurial
education. The educators selected from various partner institutions need to be trained on how to
address students. The participation of real entrepreneurs in teaching can help in bringing the practical
experiences to the students. In the context of teaching entrepreneurship, it is interesting to note that a
high visibility of entrepreneurial commitment of the institutions could be achieved through the
presence of dedicated spaces such as ‘hatcheries’ or incubators for students start-up plans. We
would concentrate on the fashion incubators to support the students and the method of making these
accessible for students. A model including these concepts is given in the annexure 1.
Incubators for fashion and apparel entrepreneurial training
Incubators are becoming the entrepreneurial schools of tomorrow as cited by Albert P. et al. 2003 and
are recognized in both developed and developing countries as important instruments for promoting
entrepreneurship development (Adegbite.O, 2001). Innovative start-ups by the students could be
encouraged through the dedicated and supportive internal incubators or by easy access to external
incubators. It is proposed that the universities have their own incubation centers aimed to help the
aspiring entrepreneurs in the start-up of the business or direct them to the external incubation centers.
Incubators for fashion and apparel training should function with the aim of rendering the creative
potential of fashion and apparel design entrepreneurs into commercially viable businesses. It is
generally seen that the entrepreneurs face significant obstacles to start a business, e.g. high-fixed
and entry costs, lack of access to equity capital, insufficient technical and market information, and
weak management skills.The incubators function with the assistance provided from professionals of
clothing industry including manufacturers, sales reps, buyers, factors, sewing contractors, suppliers,
pattern makers and designers; and they should entail the following:
Introducing creative entrepreneurs to business skills as well as to financial sources and legal
assistance
Provision of physical infrastructure
Provision of technical support from the professionals in the field
Provision of common marketing activities and network support for creative entrepreneurs and
their activities
The proposed model for the incubation centers used for distance learning institutions has two stages:
Pre-incubators where the entrepreneurs with strong business idea would be exposed to the
basic entrepreneurial traits and educational concepts that include the following:
o fashion related
o business
o entrepreneurial
o legal concepts etc.
Incubators where the idea would be developed into a proposition for implementation.
The four areas of which create value to the incubation process as suggested by Campbell et al.
(1985) includes:
diagnosis of business needs
selection and monitored application of business services
provision of financing
access to the incubator network.
Similarly, Hackett and Dilts (2004) postulate that the following key factors contribute to incubatees’
success through incubators:
providing dynamic, proactive feedback to incubates
assisting incubatees with business planning
encouraging incubatees to develop control systems during the early stages of incubatee
development.
The model proposed is based on different models of the incubation centers reviewed by the author.
Pre-incubators – These are considered as the platform for the development of the product idea and
diagnose the business needs. These are entrepreneurship centres offering a range of fashion and
apparel design courses to the incubatees. This could be a part of the university campus, the learning
centres, NGOs etc., where the incubatee is provided with dynamic feedback of the business idea
proposed and assistance provided for planning the business idea. This should include teaching the
entrepreneurs with a feasible business idea and involved in a learning process that would help them
to acquire the tools and skills required to implement their ideas for a successful start-up. The content
focus should include basic entrepreneurial traits and related educational concepts. The teaching focus
should be aimed at imparting the learning experience through learner centered approach with relevant
teaching tools.
Incubators – An accepted definition of incubators as per the US National Business Incubation
Association can be given as incubators provide hands on management assistance, access to
financing and orchestrated exposure to critical business or technical support services. They also offer
entrepreneurial firms shared office services, access to equipment, flexible leases and expandable
space – all under one roof. Incubators, particularly in universities, can act as a laboratory for
commercialising the ideas of academics and provide a training ground for entrepreneurs. The function
of internal incubators cannot work in isolation. It needs to be connected to different partners of the
distance educational institutions which can foster the entrepreneurial education. At a general level,
the concept of fashion and apparel design incubation centres refer to the practice of providing low-
cost, property-based facilities, shared services, capital equipment, business and technical services as
well as access to finance, including venture capital and business networks to nurture the development
of new firms.
A model that could be used by the distance education universities for imparting entrepreneurial
education through pre-incubators and the incubation centres using blended (ICT and print media) is
given in the annexure 2.
The proposed strategy and plan of action given below is based on the open system approach which is
a technique for understanding, predicting and controlling the interaction and interdependence of the
major parts of the system in a given situation, to achieve specified objectives. The interrelation of
different stakeholders and entrepreneurial development is given with reference to four areas of value
incubation process as suggested by Campbell et al. (1985).
Table: 1 Objectives and strategy for entrepreneurial education
Objectives Strategies/Policies Inputs and Infrastructure Expected
Outputs
Institutions Support
infrastructure
Promoting fashion
and apparel
entrepreneurial
avenues
Providing
comprehensive
information in
developing and
sustaining
entrepreneurial
avenue in the area
of fashion and
apparel design
Providing support
services by
involving the local
institutions, NGOs,
business
organizations,
government
enterprises etc.
Providing efficient
business support
network
Government
strategies to be given
priority in promoting
the avenues
(National
Entrepreneurship
Network,
BharatiyaYuva Shakti
Trust, Mutual Credit
Guarantee Fund
Scheme, Network
Enterprises Fund,
Sectorial Skill
Development
Initiative etc.)
Main Stake
holder
Distance
education
University
Partner Stake
holders
Certified
Learning
Centres
NGOs
Local
Institutions
Business
partners
Government
agencies
Funding
agencies
Pedagogical
support –
educational
requirements in
establishing
fashion and
apparel
entrepreneurial
avenue and
providing
resources in terms
of print and online
media. Guidelines
for establishing the
incubation centre
including the
developing
business idea,
access to market,
finance, networks
etc.
Support in
education and
training, skills
required in
developing
business idea,
developing
entrepreneurial
traits
Marketing through
fairs, networks,
exhibitions, access
to capital, funds,
awards
Entrepreneur with
strong base of
entrepreneurial
education
required for
starting and
sustaining the
business – a
means of
contributing to
employment
generation and
the economic
development of
the nation
Table 2: Proposed Plan of Action
Action Description Output Stakeholders Involved
Planning the curriculum
and the content
development
Constitution of Board of
Studies:
to formulate the
learning objectives
to formulate the
curriculum based on
the objectives
to develop the
content required for
entrepreneurial
education of the
Standard curriculum and
learning material.
University, educational
experts from other
Universities, successful
entrepreneurs,
government agencies
enterprise, for the
enterprise and
through the
enterprise.
to formulate the
guidelines for
identification and
certification of the
authorised training
centres
to formulate the
guidelines for
establishing the
support network
Identification and
certification of the
authorized training
centers – (University
learning center / NGO /
Local institution for
imparting entrepreneurial
education)
To identify and authorise
the training centre based
on the guidelines
formulated by the
university.
A learning centre fully
equipped working towards
accomplishing the
objectives
University, Government
agencies, Business
partners
Implement and evaluate
the learning objectives
Implementing the
curriculum (pre-
incubators)
print media
online resources (char
rooms, discussion
forums, video
resources etc.)
group and team
techniques
case studies
workshops
training
developing the
business idea
Evaluation of the learning
objectives:
paper and pen test
continuous evaluation
of the practical aspects
evaluation of the
business idea
Incubation centres
continuous evaluation
of developing the
business idea into a
revenue generating
product
The flow chart of the task
analysis is given in the
annexure 3.
A fashion and apparel
entrepreneur trained to
start and sustain the
enterprise.
University, University
learning centre / NGO /
Local institution,
Successful entrepreneurs,
Business partners
CONCLUSION
As yet, there is no common agreement over what constitutes entrepreneurship education in the area
of fashion and apparel design. The paper presented is an attempt made to propose the overall picture
of the entrepreneurial education in fashion and apparel design with focus towards the following
aspects:
Content
Teaching
Partnership for the development and delivery of the concepts
Incubation centers as the challenging means of developing the entrepreneurs
The pre-incubators and the incubators should be designed to help the budding entrepreneurs to be
exposed to concepts that would help them in strengthening their business idea and test the
implications of the concepts in new situations and gain concrete experience.
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Annexure 1
Annexure 2
Annexure 3
doc_147817703.pdf