Student entrepreneurs thrive in robust entrepreneurship ecosystem

Studies show that entrepreneurs in general and undergraduate student entrepreneurs in particular flourish in robust entrepreneurship ecosystem because it enables young entrepreneurs to start new businesses by creating conducive culture and venture-friendly markets for products.

Nurturing entrepreneurship has become a core element of economic development in dynamic cities and countries around the world; the predominant metaphor for stimulating entrepreneurship as an economic development strategy is the “entrepreneurship ecosystem.”

To help foster an entrepreneurship ecosystem for student entrepreneurs, the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation’s (EO) Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA), a premier global competition for student entrepreneurs who actively run a business recently rewarded three student entrepreneurs at the Business School Netherlands, Ikeja, GRA.

The winner was Okafor Kenechukwu, founder/CEO Ezra Footwears, student of Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State; 1st runner up, Ugweke Emmanuel, found/CEO Estup Global Services is a student of Federal University Lafia, Nassarawa state and 2nd runner up, Oyedele Oyindamola, is a student of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo state.

All three will have the opportunity to obtain business management certification worth N1.5 million at the Business School Netherlands at Ikeja GRA, Lagos. The 2nd runner up went home with a printer, the 1st runner a tablet and the winner a laptop. The three finalists were grateful for the opportunity and privilege.

EO GSEA nominees compete in qualifying competitions for the chance to advance to the Global Finals, held in April 2017 in Frankfurt, Germany. With more than 1,700 competitors from more than 50 countries, EO GSEA is an exclusive opportunity for student entrepreneurs to make connections, find resources, and grow their businesses by plugging into a global entrepreneurship ecosystem.

People familiar with matter say Nigeria’s biggest challenge is lack of a coherent entrepreneurship ecosystem “it is ineffective to introduce entrepreneurship into the curriculum of tertiary institutions and have it taught by lecturers who never really started nor ran businesses of their own” said Tope Togun, M/D Accelerated Learning Systems Nigeria Limited.

“Entrepreneurship has a value chain or components leading from conceptualisation to commercialisation, from an idea domiciled in the mind of one person to the formation of a business and access to venture capital, particularly of the Angel capital type” Togun added.

The entrepreneurship ecosystem comprises six domains, so delineated for convenience. “We group into six general domains: a conducive culture, enabling policies and leadership, availability of appropriate finance, quality human capital, venture-friendly markets  for products, and a range of institutional and infrastructural supports” wrote Daniel Isenberg in a Harvard Business Review article titled “Introducing the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem: Four Defining Characteristics.”

For instance, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has robust entrepreneurship ecosystem which stimulates innovation in its student.

The MIT has over 40 student clubs and initiatives involved in entrepreneurship or innovation, among them the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, MIT Clean Energy Prize, and conferences such as Hacking Arts and Hacking Medicine.

The Technology Institute’s educational efforts in entrepreneurship and innovation have an impressive impact at local, regional, and global levels. A 2015 report suggested that 30,000 companies founded by MIT alumni were active as of 2014, employing 4.6 million people and producing annual revenues of $1.9 trillion, equivalent to the world’s 10th largest economy.

MIT alumni form hundreds of new companies each year, and approximately 40 percent of MIT founders are serial entrepreneurs, starting multiple companies. Twenty-three percent of MIT alumni’s new firms are founded outside the United States.

Some universities in Nigeria are beginning to catch the flare for such ecosystems and are setting up innovation hubs and centres on campuses, such as the Research and Innovation Centre at University of Lagos, Akoka.

“There is definitely some level of disconnect between town and gown, industry and academia. We are committed to bridge this gap, when each party sits in their own space and complains, it helps no one. We have started by engaging with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), since they form the engine of any consumer driven economy” said Wellington Oyibo, director Centre for Research and Innovation, University of Lagos.

Oyibo emphasised that “the University of Lagos is gradually evolving into a research based university and would strive to create innovation hubs on campus for students to develop entrepreneurial drive and hopefully have the opportunity to heighten creativity, which leads to the creation of new businesses.”

He explained “this two and half year old Centre for Research and Innovation is testimony that we are indeed committed to changing the narrative by bringing research to bear on industry innovation. The Centre owes its establishment to Rahmon Ade Bello, the current vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos and a professor of Chemical Engineering.”

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU