Analysis: there are a number of groups who are under-represented in entrepreneurial activity and universities can play a part in changing this
Supporting entrepreneurship has become a global phenomenon, with governments and policy makers paying increasing attention to it. It's widely recognised that new and small enterprises are a significant source of job creation and innovation. Entrepreneurial education within universities has gained increasing prominence too, from a handful of courses in the 1970s to thousands around the globe today.
Traditionally, entrepreneurial education had a strong business or new venture creation focus, fostering the skills needed to develop entrepreneurial start-ups in a commercially oriented context. However, contemporary entrepreneurial education has become increasingly attentive to supporting a broader set of enterprising behaviours, skills, and attitudes within individuals.
Despite the global boom of entrepreneurship, there remain several communities that are "silent" in entrepreneurship
Focusing on developing transferable competencies such as creativity, risk taking, collaboration and other active learning approaches encourages encourage individuals to behave in an entrepreneurial fashion as a consumer, citizen, employee, or self-employed person in society. This broadens the relevance of entrepreneurship to a wider variety of people in many different circumstances.
Who are the 'missing entrepreneurs'?
Despite the global boom of entrepreneurship, there remain several communities that are "silent" in entrepreneurship. In its series of reports on these absentees, the OECD (2021) identified that women, youth, seniors, ethnic minorities, immigrants, unemployed, ex-offenders and disabled people as disadvantaged and under-represented cohorts in entrepreneurial activity.
Inclusive entrepreneurship policies recognise the untapped entrepreneurial potential within these communities and emphasis the significant economic and societal contribution that people from these communities could make to local and regional development if greater support was offered. It is now widely acknowledged that missing entrepreneurs experience additional and distinctive challenges and require customised and tailored support in developing their entrepreneurial capabilities.
Universities have fundamentally been societal institutions
Several customised education programmes have emerged specifically designed for under-represented communities. Inspired by a Texas prison initiative, Irish entrepreneur Domini Kemp developed the prison entrepreneurship programme in Wheatfield prison. Building self-confidence and self-esteem such initiatives highlight the potential transformative power of entrepreneurship through personal growth and development.
The role of universities
But such initiatives are infrequent in reality and greater effort is required to develop more inclusive entrepreneurship. It has been argued that universities could play a more proactive role in supporting the development of entrepreneurial skills and competencies in disadvantaged communities.
Since the establishment of the first European university in Bologna in 1088, universities have fundamentally been societal institutions. Universities were once perceived as 'ivory towers' producing knowledge in seclusion from society, but there has been a re-emergence of interest in recent years in universities engaging with their communities to address societal needs.
Community engagement is often referred to as a 'third mission' activity in addition to universities’ first mission of teaching and research. Under the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030, Irish universities should have open engagement with their wider community and society which should "infuse every aspect of their mission".
Inclusive, tailored entrepreneurial education broadens the traditional worldview of the purely economic role of universities in supporting entrepreneurship
'Uniquely positioned'
A recent study explored how universities can enhance entrepreneurial education in their region through the provision of community engagement initiatives. Hearing from multiple stakeholders, it was acknowledged that universities are uniquely positioned to develop tailored and holistic entrepreneurial education initiatives. Fundamentally, it was identified that the broader interpretation of entrepreneurship as enterprising behaviour has relevance for disadvantaged communities.
Program design must be co-created with communities and build upon active learning pedagogies. A foundational element is a mutually, beneficial and reciprocal relationship between universities and communities and contextual considerations were deemed important. Building upon the inherent enterprising capacity within communities, anticipated outcomes of any such initiative include self-efficacy and personal development. Inclusive entrepreneurial education may have relevance in many facets of an individual's life, such as gaining employment, community/social enterprise initiatives or potentially in the long-term new venture creation.
Universities play a crucial role in responding to societal needs and can further enhance this through community engagement. Development of inclusive, tailored entrepreneurial education broadens the traditional worldview of the purely economic role of universities in supporting entrepreneurship. It requires universities to leverage their relationships with government, enterprise and civil society including communities and grassroots organisations.
Given the substantial benefits available, it is surprising there has been little policy development in this area
Having broader access to university support will foster the development of both human and social capital in under-represented communities. Simultaneously such engagement activities ensure that higher education is more inclusive, equitable, and accessible to its local community.
In 2022, 95.3 million people in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion and there is now an urgent need for higher education to play a leading role in strengthening social inclusion in their regions. The supportive role that universities can play in inclusive entrepreneurship offers a pathway to progress this agenda.
Given the substantial benefits available to all stakeholders, it is surprising there has been little policy development in this area. Arguably, this is crucial for the future regeneration of many local communities and supporting such diversity may well be a source of competitiveness for broader national economies and society.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
