Our Entrepreneurship Expertise
The Challenge
The idea of infusing entrepreneurship into education has spurred much enthusiasm in the last few decades.
A myriad of effects has resulted from this, such as economic growth, job creation, and increased societal resilience, but also individual growth, increased school engagement, and improved equality. Putting this idea into practice has however posed significant challenges alongside the positive effects.
Lack of time and resources, teachers’ fear of commercialism, impeding educational structures, assessment difficulties, and lack of definitional clarity are some of the challenges practitioners have encountered when trying to infuse entrepreneurship into education.
The Solution
What we mean when we discuss entrepreneurship in education differs significantly.
Some mean that students should be encouraged to start up their own company. This leans on a rather narrow definition of entrepreneurship viewed as starting a business. Others mean that it is not at all about starting new organizations, but that it instead is about making students more creative, opportunity oriented, proactive, and innovative, adhering to a wide definition of entrepreneurship relevant to all walks in life.
Ziel Global takes the stance that a common denominator between these differing approaches is that all students can and should train their ability and willingness to create value for other people. This is at the core of entrepreneurship and is also competence that all citizens increasingly need to have in today’s society, regardless of career choice. Creating new organisations is then viewed as one of many different means for creating value
The Strategy
How to make students more entrepreneurial is probably the most difficult and important question.
Ziel Global extensive researcher in industry and academia has led it to firmly believe that the only way to make people more entrepreneurial is by applying a learning-by-doing approach. There is increasing consensus among researchers that letting students work in interdisciplinary teams and interact with people outside school/university is a particularly powerful way to develop entrepreneurial competencies among students. It is for this reason that the entrepreneurship domain contains some of the most valuable and important value creation tools, methods, and processes for early-stage leadership and character development.
The Approach
Develop an Entrepreneurial Mindset
Inquiring Mind, Growth Mindset, Boldness, Tenacity, Opportunity-seeking, Empathy, Problem-solving, Redefining Failure, Optimism, Inventive Mind, and Flexibility.
Nurture an Entrepreneurial Skill Set
Creativity, Teamwork, Idea Generation, Opportunity Analysis, Market Research & Customer Validation, Design Thinking, Prototyping, Business Model Methodology, Pitching, and Public Speaking.
