Practical Entrepreneurship
Programme in Practical Entrepreneurship
The new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English defines an Entrepreneur as "a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit." The French economist J.B. Say, who first coined the word Entrepreneur around the 1800s, defined it as a person who "shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield." Whatever the definition or definitions of entrepreneurship, the role they play in the socio-economic development of countries cannot be emphasized enough. For developing countries, the need to develop entrepreneurs is crucial and of outmost importance. This Programme in Practical Entrepreneurship focuses on equipping those who want to be entrepreneurs and existing entrepreneurs with practical skills and methods of entrepreneurship.
Programme Approach
The pedagogical approach used in the delivery of this Programme in Practical Entrepreneurship (PIPE) is an enhanced integrated model where most of the learning process in this programme will be practical. The emphasis on the practical aspects of the programme will require participants in the programme to engage on hands-on entrepreneurship projects. The theoretical aspects would be lectures and study materials on entrepreneurship.
Programme Objectives
Those who participate and successfully complete this programme will acquire skills in the following areas:
- Who is an entrepreneur, the different types of entrepreneurs and their attributes?
- How to develop a business concept, the testing of the concept and moving from the concept phase to the development of the products or the service.
- Understanding types of business entities
- Know how to write a business plan.
- Learn ways to raise funds to start the business as well as how to grow the business.
- Doing business across borders in Africa
Admission Requirements
- GCE 'O' Levels or High School Diploma minimum
- 2 written recommendations
- Accept to attend scheduled study group or learning team meetings
- Accept to attend a one week full-time study school
- Compulsory participation in practical entrepreneurship project
Programme Modules
- Introduction to Entrepreneurship and an Entrepreneur
- The Business Concept and its Development
- Types of Business Entities
- Exemplary Leadership
- Writing the Business Plan
- Financing the Business
- Growing the Business
- Important reasons why you should not start a business
- Doing business across borders in Africa
Methods of Assessment
The assessment methods of the Practical Entrepreneurship Programme are divided into four. The first is group assignments, where the individual groups are given assignments after each module and the group has to work together on the assignment and report back. The second is the individual assignment of which there are two. Each individual enrolled in the programme will have to send in their completed assignments by the due dates. The third form of assessments is participation in a one week long study school, where all participants gather for a face-to-face in class version of the programme. The final form of assessment in this programme is the hands-on entrepreneurship project. There are no examinations. Hence the successful completion of the above mentioned four assessment methods would lead to the awarding of the Programme in Practical Entrepreneurship Certificate from the African Graduate School of Management and Leadership.
