Starting an entrepreneurial society

I believe entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and behaviours can be learned. It’s a mindset and all mindsets are learned. The sooner we start exposing people to entrepreneurship education, creating an inclusive educational foundation that supports an individual’s lifelong learning path, starting from youth and continuing through adulthood into higher education — the faster society will be able to adapt and thrive to the continual global and economic changes. The advantage of educating the youth is that they only have to make up their minds whereas adults need to change their minds.
Entrepreneurship education is a game changer because it has far reaching impact in all sectors — private, public, academia and non-profit. Although not everyone will become an entrepreneur, society at large needs to be more entrepreneurial so all will benefit from the education. Then, regardless of the role a person chooses to play, from the entrepreneur to a supporter, they can become a societal change agent. However, first we need to create an environment that encourages entrepreneurial ways of thinking and behaving.

The time has come to connect both entrepreneurship and education to develop the talent and capabilities required for building the future. Entrepreneurship will be the basis for innovation, employment and economic growth. For that to happen, we need to create an environment where entrepreneurship can prosper and where entrepreneurs can try new ideas and empower others.
Now more than ever, we need innovation, new solutions, creative approaches and new ways of operating. This will require people to stretch beyond their usual ways of doing or thinking; demanding a willingness to be open, challenging old ideas and barriers.

There are many big problems in the world that need to be solved. To do it, it’s imperative to create learning environments that encourages innovation, new ideas, creative solutions and approaches.
“My greatest challenge has been to change the mindset of people. We see things the way our minds have instructed our eyes to see”, says Muhammad Yunus, Managing Director, Grameen Bankr
Until now, education has predominantly been focused on preparing people to enter the workforce by taking a job. Entrepreneurship education goes well beyond that and as such, it requires a revolutionary approach bringing with it new teaching tools and methods. Incremental change just won’t do.
Entrepreneurship education is about developing attitudes, behaviours and capabilities. Leadership is at its core. The skills and attitudes that will be developed can take many forms during a person’s career, creating a range of long-term benefits to society and the economy.

Rather than backing into future dragging the old ways of thinking and doing things, the time has come to create an entrepreneurial society. To be successful, this will require collaboration and multi-stakeholder support, including government, academic institutions and the private sector.