For a long time in our country we have been
lamenting on the high rate of unemployment among the thousands of graduates
that Kenyan university’s and colleges churn out every year. Yet these graduates
are highly skilled and knowledgeable in various fields like information
communication and technology, business and other technical areas which can
provides profitable solutions to the many problems be-deviling our society.
Various suggestions have been offered in attempts
to address this scenario though some have been too simplistic like
telling the
unemployed to start small business after “tarmarking” for years and giving two
day workshops on entrepreneurship. The Kenyan
Government in its vision to develop Kenya into a middle income country by 2030 has
the ambitious goal of creating 500,000 jobs per year. But if these jobs are
going to be created then it is the entrepreneurs who will have to create
businesses that will create jobs and wealth for themselves and the country.
The main challenge though is that these young Kenyans
have been programmed since their early school to work hard in school go to
college/university and then seek employment with some big corporate. This is
how they have been taught to view success and make money. They only seek to be
entrepreneurs once they fail to get employment.
Objectively speaking, there is nothing wrong
about seeking employment after graduating. The issue is we need more Kenyans who
are enterprising and creating business. The national curriculum needs to focus
on how to develop the entrepreneurial mindset and perspectives from kindergarten
to university and colleges. This will train
them to be able to have the enterprise thinking.
In short, entrepreneurship is not about information;
it's about perspective.
Some call it "mindset."
No matter how many examples we give of
entrepreneurs and people who are “self made entrepreneurs”, it's important that
we train our future entrepreneurs on how to think creatively and innovatively.
What is a truly entrepreneurial mindset?
If one is thinking of being an entrepreneur, one
must think of which college or university that will equip one with the right
mindset that empowers one to be a problem-solver, creative and innovative. One
needs to be trained to see the concerns that are challenging to the society and
what solutions can one find with the help of the skills they have acquired in
the university or college.
Entrepreneurship should not be the last option
after failing to get a job or employment .It should be the option if you want
to have a job and create wealth.
