NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, April 20, 2018

By Jackline Nyerere

Universities are at the forefront of any country’s economic development efforts. They play an invaluable role in passing knowledge on to the next generation and creating new knowledge through research. Both these endeavours can set graduates up to contribute to their country’s growth.

In this vein, more universities around the world are paying attention to entrepreneurship education. The idea is that graduates with entrepreneurial skills may have a high chance of creating work and livelihoods for themselves and their communities. Some universities combine this training with their community engagement projects. In this way, students learn to be social entrepreneurs: people who can set up and run community projects.

A number of institutions nurture social entrepreneurship by setting up incubation centres dedicated to this work. These centres provide a platform where ideas are nurtured into viable business through expert mentoring; some help students access initial funding for their ideas.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Ernst.