First of all, from AfterschoolAfrica, I wish you a happy and prosperous New year – 2014. The year is already on the move, with the usual unwillingness of any year to wait for anyone. How swiftly 2013 swept by…
What are your goals for 2014? What plans are you making to achieve them?
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I believe 2014 is a year with promise for great achievements, not just for the mere reason of optimism but also for what we plan and hope to achieve.
While having a discussion with a friend recently, I told him I want to promote the entrepreneurial spirit on my online platform in 2014. Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now but kept putting it off. I think the time has finally come.
First of all, what do we mean by entrepreneurial spirit?
There is hardly one way to describe the entrepreneurial spirit. Here are some definitions I was able to find.
Entrepreneurial spirit is a mindset. It’s an attitude and approach to thinking that actively seeks out change, rather than waiting to adapt to change. It’s a mindset that embraces critical questioning, innovation, service and continuous improvement.
It doesn’t have to mean going out and starting your own business. Think of it in terms of owning your career path and professional development.
An entrepreneurial spirit is a way of approaching situations where you feel empowered, motivated and capable of taking things into your own hands. Companies that nurture an entrepreneurial spirit within the organization encourage their employees to not only see problems, solutions and opportunities, but to come up with ideas to do something about them.
Much of this spirit is comprised of self-motivation or inner drive and the need to follow a passion.
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear, “entrepreneurship”? Probably images of people like Mike Adenuga, Aliko Dangote, Cosmos Maduka, Jason Njoku and so on. While entrepreneurs are known to start and build their own businesses, employees who build other people’s business, students and professional can also demonstrate entrepreneurial spirit.
It took entrepreneurial spirit for;
- Charles Darwin, who could not succeed as a medical student, to become the pioneer of the theory of evolution.
- Nelson Mandela to stand against apartheid in South Africa
- Christopher Columbus to embark on the voyage to discover America
Entrepreneurship is not reserved for business starters. The entrepreneurial spirit strives in any environment and situation it finds itself; whether in search for a job or scholarship; starting a business, or developing a new skill.
Why is it necessary to promote entrepreneurial spirit in 2014?
Everything we come to live with and enjoy today is a result of the entrepreneurial spirits of other people. These people are restless for change, impatient for progress and deeply dissatisfied with the status quo. They are the masters at what they do because it is where they find passion, purpose and meaning.
The average student wants to go to school, get good grades, and get a good job.
The problem with this orientation is that it creates a sense of entitlement rather than indebtedness to the society; a sense of destination rather than an unending journey towards contribution; a sense of complacency rather than the desire for forwardness and continuous development.
It moulds human beings into handicapped Homosapiens who will rather let someone else think for them than use their God-given intelligence to better the society. Think about it. How many brilliant engineers do we have in Nigeria today? Yet we can hardly boast of a bicycle manufacturing company.
Well, thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of Mr. Innocent Chukwuma, the Chairman of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company, Ltd; we now have the first indigenous vehicle manufacturing plant in Nigeria.
As the rate of unemployment in Nigeria continue to increase and companies continue to downsize, we are fast drifting away from the blue and white collar to entrepreneurial (knowledge) driven society. What you know and how much interest you have in it becomes more important than academic qualification.
There is an irrefutable need to take your destiny into your hands. Even if you are an employee, you can make yourself more valuable to your company and less dependent on a job.
If we all keep looking for the good jobs for the sake of entitlement, wouldn’t we end up a miserable society? When we have people who take on jobs with entrepreneurial drive, businesses will grow, companies will expand and more jobs will be created.
It will take the entrepreneurial spirit to build our society and our nation; not entitlement, complacency, apathy or nonchalance.
Do you possess the entrepreneurial spirit to strive through 2014?
Nigerians are naturally people with entrepreneurial spirit. We survive despite the situation in the country. Reading stories of entrepreneurial Nigerians will give you hope that we are not just a bunch of black people who make up a nation; we are tenacious; we are hustlers; we are creative people.
The entrepreneurial spirit is not lacking in our society, but I believe what most young Nigerian need is the right motivation to take the step forward. We need mentors, role models. Not people whose accumulated wealth has no history. Not people who loot nation’s wealth. Not fraudsters, drug pushers or oil thieves, but people who weather the tempests of a rough economy to come out strong.
Proven stories from such people will bring us hope and strength. It will rekindle the entrepreneurial spirit in most of us. It will give us a road map; a guide.
Promoting entrepreneurial spirit in 2014
At AfterschoolAfrica, we aim to promote youth empowerment and development through opportunities available around the world. This is not done for academic interest but for social entrepreneurship.
In addition, we understand the importance of nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit from early ages, and continuing it through all educational levels.
We dream of a school curriculum that infuses entrepreneurship in classes; where it provides the background for learning other basic skills and motivating students to want to learn by interest.
We dream for a time when entrepreneurship becomes a separate course in secondary schools supporting the outcomes of the higher levels of the lifelong learning model.
Just as every Nigerian graduate is meant to go for a compulsory one year National Youth Service Corps – NYSC, we look forward to a time when our graduates will be compelled to go through such training in entrepreneurship. Then, those who genuinely decide to become entrepreneurs can then be give further support.
When potential employees develop the entrepreneurial spirit, they understand the operations of the business and the problems the employer faces. They stop seeing the business as just an opportunity to cash in, but an opportunity to contribute to the success of something worthwhile.
In 2014, we aim to promote entrepreneurship. We welcome contributions, suggestions, partnership and collaboration towards this purpose.
2014 is going to be a year of transformation, and we hope to be a part of it.
