ALTHOUGH governments should take the idea of business ownership into schools, they should not fall into the “trap of credentials”.
This suggestion comes from Dr Paul Kedrosky, a senior fellow with the Kauffman Foundation, which is the world’s largest foundation devoted to entrepreneurship.
In his presentation The Impact Of Entrepreneurship On National Economies Tuesday during the Barbados National Entrepreneurship Summit at Hilton Barbados, Kedrosky said governments should show students examples of “other people like themselves” who are successful entrepreneurs.
“Why?
“Partly because it’s motivating but also because they say if that joker can do it, why can’t I do it?
You want them to feel as if the barriers are much lower than they expected,” he said.
Kedrosky noted that certificates in entrepreneurship “are lovely things to have but it is really important to simultaneously reinforce that these are neither necessary nor sufficient.
The author and investor said emphasising credentials placed another hurdle before people who are “already skittish about if this is something they really want to do”.
“The reality of entrepreneurship is that many of our successful entrepreneurs around the world are high-school or university dropouts.
“Not that that’s a prerequisite, but the point is, creating more of those credential hurdles is an easy trap for governments to fall into,” Kedrosky said.
He also said governments should celebrate entrepreneurs when they find them.
“Governments are notoriously terrible at this. It’s not enough to say I’ve found these people,” he said.
Kedrosky also emphasised the importance of making it easier to do business. (NB)
