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Incubating Entrepreneurship in the University System: a Case for National Development

Incubating Entrepreneurship in the University System: a Case for National Development. By S. Olufemi Adebiyi Director, Enterprise Promotions (on Behalf of Director-General, SMEDAN) To Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities; University of Ilorin: June 2, 2009. Outline.

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Incubating Entrepreneurship in the University System: a Case for National Development

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  1. Incubating Entrepreneurship in the University System: a Case for National Development By S. Olufemi Adebiyi Director, Enterprise Promotions (on Behalf of Director-General, SMEDAN) To Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities; University of Ilorin: June 2, 2009

  2. Outline • What Entrepreneurship is all about • Justification for Promoting Entrepreneurship in the Universities • The Available Options • The Relevance of SMEDAN in the Process • Concluding Point

  3. What Entrepreneurship is all about • Starting and running enterprises successfully • Success – not necessarily in terms of profit • Social Vs. Economic entrepreneurship • Requires Knowledge • Involves risk • Demands innovativeness • Bottom-line: entrepreneurship is about meeting needs

  4. Justification for Promoting Entrepreneurship in the Universities • Dwindling ‘employee’ opportunities • Huge but untapped resources in the universities (knowledge base) • Universities churn out the largest volume of young skilful people that must find expression for their natural and acquired endowments • An employer will never make you rich • Need to become your own boss, ab initio

  5. The Available Options 1. Creating enterprises within our universities, using available resource endowments; or 2. Transferring the knowledge base of the universities to the field

  6. Option 1 • Setting up enterprises in the universities as stand-alones or as incubation centres • As stand-alones, using products of research and establishing mini-clusters within the university walls • As incubation centres, providing facilities for business take-off and allowing tenancy of between 3-5 years, after which the entrepreneur is ‘graduated’ to give space to another ‘bud’

  7. Option 2 • Institution of a knowledge transfer programme (KTP) • The model requires a very resourceful graduate transferring an existing business knowledge in the university to start a new or improve an existing business • Model already developed by the British Council with a few experiments going on.

  8. Knowledge Transfer Model • The Links SME Knowledge Transfer Associate Nigerian University Knowledge Transfer Adviser

  9. Options cont’d • The two options – beyond introduction of entrepreneurship into the university curriculum • Requires paying attention to both vocational and entrepreneurial skills – as complements rather than substitutes • Not for students alone, but also the teachers (you cannot give what you don’t have)

  10. What Role for SMEDAN? • Partnership with the universities on: • Entrepreneurship awareness creation • EDPs embracing curriculum development and implementation of training and counselling • Enterprise/university linkages with opportunities for mentoring and coaching • Advocacy in support of entrepreneurship development in the universities • Inter-institutional collaboration in support of university entrepreneurship initiatives • Support for specialised EDPs such as SIFE

  11. Concluding Point • The SMEs are major drivers of national development in many fast growing economies • The nature of the enterprises make it so • The potentials of SMEs in Nigeria must be translated into realities with the universities and other tertiary institutions taking the lead. • This meeting may be the beginning of this economic revolution • Thanks for listening

  12. SMEDAN Contacts • Director-General Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria 35, Port Harcourt Crescent, Area 11 Garki, Abuja Tel: +234 9 3144930-1 Email: info@smedan.gov.ng

  13. Femi Adebiyi • Samuel OlufemiAdebiyi, small business counsellor and an SME development expert • 1979 first-class honours graduate of University of Ibadan, Nigeria and also best graduating 1981 Masters degree student in Agricultural Economics from the same university. • Joined Central Bank of Nigeria in 1981 as an Assistant Economist and was one of seven outstanding professionals seconded from the Bank in 1991 to pioneer the Nigerian Export-Import Bank. • Left NEXIM Bank for First City Monument Bank Plc as Head of Research and Corporate Affairs. He left the bank as Group Head, Corporate Services to start R&S Consulting Limited. • Consulted briefly for the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), which he later joined as pioneer Director of Enterprise Promotions, Management and Extension Services. • Has attended many courses and training on small business development in Asia, Europe and the United States of America

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