Entrepreneurship

As the business 
grows, good 
communication 
becomes critically 
important to ensure 
understanding, 
cooperation and 
mutual trust.

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Entrepreneurship in farming
aPPRoaCHES To BUIlDINg CaPaCITy
Building  capacity  for  entrepreneurship  involves  a 
combination  of  efforts  including  education,  training, 
information dissemination and extension.
formal Education
Schools,  colleges  and  universities  can  contribute 
significantly to nurturing entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, 
attitudes and behaviour. Basic and higher education can 
help young people think in terms of profitability, creating 
work and creating wealth instead of simply finding a job 
and living a less dynamic way of life.
 
Unfortunately,  in  many  countries,  educational 
institutions  and  programmes  do  not  function  well. 
Programmes  are  often  under-funded,  rigid  and 
uninspiring.  Many  teachers  are  under-qualified,  lack 
basic  resources,  lack  motivation  and  use  out-dated 
methods. As a result the education received by children 
and students does not generally foster entrepreneurial 
thinking or behaviour.
 
Still,  basic  education  does  contribute  to  the 
overall  skills  needed  to  be  successful  entrepreneurs. 
Among these are basic literacy and numeracy skills. The 
ability  to  read,  write  and  calculate  is  extremely  useful 
when  dealing  with  money  transactions  and  financial 
institutions.  Obtaining  basic  literacy  skills  as  a  child 
through  the  school  education  system  is  an  important 
contribution  to  the  process  of  helping  adults  develop 
their entrepreneurship skills. 
 
In  addition  to  preparing  students  for  higher 
education,  schools  could  also  support  those  pupils 
who might instead go into small-scale farming or rural 
businesses, as is common among a great many pupils 
from rural areas.