Why our youth must be exposed to entrepreneurship

Today creativity and innovation stand as the pillar for our young generation. Reports have shown that current widespread of standardised education models have been ineffective in instilling principles such as innovation across student bodies. However, our people are more aware of what is happening around them. They are versatile, thus usually on the lookout for any new opportunities to explore. They want to try new ideas every now and again. Their entrepreneurial mindset is not inclined towards specific objectives, as such leaving them undecided on which way to go business wise. Teaching entrepreneurship is a very good way for our students to get a jump start towards their future. Entrepreneurship teaches children teamwork and financial literacy–and also addresses key skills in mathematics, reading, writing, and even art. Through entrepreneurship education, students use critical thinking and creativity to solve real-world problems, bringing to life the skills they learn inside the walls of the classroom. Parents and educators agree that today’s education system places too much emphasis on testing and not enough investment in the training, tools and time needed to teach creativity. The education system should not be a barrier to developing the creativity that drives innovation. Entrepreneurship is the embodiment of the very nature of this era. Whether in traditional business, or the rise of social entrepreneurs, self-started ventures allow their creators to put their ideas to work at the same time offering jobs to many. Teaching entrepreneurship in school, including through controlled lab models, where the students themselves are tasked with running their own mock-startup would provide a real time, immediately applicable venue where pupils can effectively harness skills learned in other subjects, and merge them with their own developing ideas. Such initiatives would also allow students to better understand their own personal interests, and gain an early insight into the career path they would want to follow later in life. Standardized education models often wind up drowning out creative thought. Making entrepreneurship a central aspect of any learning platform makes sense just based on the numbers. The youth today are more independent than ever, and the allure of entrepreneurship is spreading faster than at any time in recent history. Innovation, creativity, and workplace flexibility are all central demands of individuals breaking into the job market. For education systems to evolve as a result of this trend is for them to match the reality. To achieve lasting progress we must nurture and learn from the next generation of business leaders. Some of these rising stars are already ahead of the curve, especially in the way they weave together their social and entrepreneurial passions. Established business moguls have a major role to play in tackling the world’s toughest challenges. With their guidance, it would make perfect sense to mentor young business persons who are not afraid to start companies and see how their products and services can make a difference in the world. Fortunately, many young people today are embracing entrepreneurship particularly when they know of entrepreneurs that are very successful, including their fellow young entrepreneurs who are ‘making heads turn’. On a positive note, many young people are already into entrepreneurship and are indeed doing much better than the old folks. They have better ideas, are innovative, creative and focused. The young generation is more entrepreneurial now than ever before. Entrepreneurial units need to be emphasized in learning institutions. Young people may fear to get engaged in entrepreneurship due to lack of knowledge or fear of failure. Therefore, right from the foundation classes of a child, entrepreneurship should form part of every young person to eliminate these fears. On the other hand, social policies need to be in place to support the entrepreneurship environment such as seed funding once their projects ideas are submitted and approved. Students of higher learning institutions should and in fact must be given internships programmes to work in various businesses to experience such an environment. Students should also have to fulfill a minimum number of hours as part of community involvement and be sent to co-operatives or local welfare groups, to go through the experiences of volunteering in such places, to cultivate the ideas and experiences of being in a social enterprise setting. This will make it easy for our students to embrace the concept and learn more about it. The mindset should also be shifted so that the youth may not think that they only learn in order to get jobs. Since quite a number of people are leaving jobs today for businesses irrespective of age, circumstances or situations, this is an indication that entrepreneurship is the way to go. The mentality that business is for the ‘unschooled’ is archaic and must be abandoned. Oscar_kim2000@yahoo.co.uk

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Why our youth must be exposed to entrepreneurship