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Entrepreneurship Education

Faris Alami

I’m fascinated by the number of people that believe they know all they would ever need to know about the topic of entrepreneurship.

Working globally, we have been fortunate to interact with many people that believe no-one knows anything about this topic.

We agree with them - because entrepreneurship is an ongoing practice just like medicine. The reality is that we only know what we learn based on our limited or collective experience. Yes, an exception or new method comes along now and then, and we have to change the way we think or operate.

In the industry, we call that disruptive technology or disruptive business.

In truth, the entire concept of entrepreneurship education should be considered as nothing more than an experience or experiment.

It’s just a practice.

If I start a business today and do exactly what I thought I should be doing and exactly what my friend did to start a business, I might not get the same results. I might get much worse or much better results than they have. I might do more faster or better things in much less time or at lower cost.

Why?

It’s because it is called a practice. It’s an entrepreneurship practice.

We all get to practice and learn from what we’ve experienced. This is the reason we shifted our thinking a decade or so ago. It used to be do it this way, this is the only way, but we learned from entrepreneurs around the globe that there are lots of ways, technologies, backgrounds, personalities, and insights that can change the way you get there.

BEFORE YOU GO

We see our blogs as opportunities for dialogue. Please share your thoughts as comments.

Our message to entrepreneurship educators around the world is to be cautious about how you teach entrepreneurship. Remember:

  1. Entrepreneurship is a practice.

  2. There are ways to minimize the risk that you take for starting a business but they are not 100% bullet proof.

  3. There is a lot of research that can help you minimize the risk you may take in starting a business but in the end, you have to start, you can’t just keep taking about it.