ACADEMIA Letters

Rethinking Entrepreneurship and University Education

Mwenda Ntarangwi

There is an ongoing debate around the world on the role of universities in producing employ-
able graduates. Some argue that there is a need to focus on skills that the industry needs,
with an emphasis on STEM and professional courses that offer hands-on skills easily trans-
ferable into the market. There is also a push towards placing more emphasis on two-year
technical college programs. Others have asked that institutions focus on training students in
entrepreneurial skills that they can use to employ themselves upon graduation instead of seek-
ing employment from the government or industry. While all these arguments are valid, they
reflect an emphasis on a single variable embedded within a diverse set of options. What if,
for instance, instead of seeing university education as skill training for a specific job, we see
it as an engagement that involves skills that not only produce employable graduates but also
entrepreneurs and well-rounded citizens who adapt to the ever-changing world of work? Fur-
ther, what if we started looking at what we consider to be employable skills from a broader
perspective?
Education is about knowledge and skills, about graduates with the knowledge to theo-
rize about human life and phenomena, graduates with skills to provide practical solutions for
current and future challenges. Without thinkers and theorizers, we cannot imagine a world
outside of the immediate. If we train students on skills of repairing a tractor that is based on
today’s thinking, for instance, how do we prepare them for the tractor of the future that might
be self-driving and using solar power instead of diesel or petrol? Here are a few thoughts on
entrepreneurship as part of education that is beyond skill training.
Entrepreneurship has become a staple in many conversations, strategies, and even prac-
tices in many boardrooms, political meetings, and businesses. When people talk about busi-
ness success, they talk about people who are entrepreneurs; they talk about Uber, Netflix,
Airbnb, etc., as entrepreneurial companies that changed the way business is done in their

Academia Letters, October 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Mwenda Ntarangwi, mwendantarangwi@gmail.com

Citation: Ntarangwi, M. (2021). Rethinking Entrepreneurship and University Education. Academia Letters,
Article 3731. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3731.

1
sectors. Others encourage students to be entrepreneurs so that they do not graduate from uni-
versity or college and end up unemployed. Universities have programs, courses, and even de-
partments devoted to training students on entrepreneurship. This is despite the reality of some
of those teaching in those programs having no entrepreneurial experience. Can such teachers
read about entrepreneurship and teach it? Is entrepreneurship limited to entrepreneurs? Who
is an entrepreneur and what is entrepreneurship?
A simple dictionary definition avers that entrepreneurship is the act of setting up a business
while taking on financial risks in the hope of making a profit.1 Therein lies the challenge that
limits the benefits of entrepreneurship. Associating entrepreneurship with businesses, alone
limits its efficacy. A more expanded definition says that the entrepreneur recognizes the com-
mercial potential of the invention and organization of capital, talent, and other resources that
turn an invention into a commercially viable innovation.2 But even this definition, while more
expanded than the previous one, still alludes to some form of activity aligned to business with
commercial value. What if we changed or even expanded our thinking of what entrepreneur-
ship is all about? What if we saw entrepreneurship as a trait, a disposition, or as a skill and
then link it to what and how we teach our students no matter their major? Some of those
students may end up owning small businesses but others may go on to other ventures includ-
ing comedy, music, animation, or engineering, areas that we do not always associate with
entrepreneurship. All those students will have acquired the same traits and dispositions. We
should, therefore, not limit their thinking, creativity, and activities to business.
One clear marker of entrepreneurship even in the definitions that are anchored in com-
merce is risk-taking. Risk-taking occurs in all areas of life not just in business or commerce.
So why do we then limit it to business? ALL students need to learn some basic skills and
dispositions in entrepreneurship because an entrepreneur is someone who not only takes risks
but challenges what is assumed to be the norm to expand ways of doing things and/or solve
problems. An entrepreneur is someone who thinks out of the box, someone who is always
seeking better ways of undertaking a task at hand. The main difference between Uber and
the regular taxi is that one focused on a vehicle going to where the client is instead of the
client going to where the taxi is. An app allowed for this to work. But Uber is in the same
business that regular taxis had—taking clients from point A to point B for a fee (of course
Uber added multiple and easier ways of paying for the ride). Uber came into play when its
founders (entrepreneurs) thought that there was another way of doing taxi business (thinking
outside the taxi business box). The story goes that the idea of Uber came from an experience
1
See https://www.lexico.com/definition/entrepreneurship
2
See https://openstax.org/books/entrepreneurship/pages/1-1-entrepreneurship-today and https://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Entrepreneurship

Academia Letters, October 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Mwenda Ntarangwi, mwendantarangwi@gmail.com

Citation: Ntarangwi, M. (2021). Rethinking Entrepreneurship and University Education. Academia Letters,
Article 3731. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3731.

2
one evening in Paris after the two founders finished their day at a conference and were unable
to get a taxi. They saw a problem and thought of how it could lead to solving it.3 This was
in 2008, the year of 3G phone networks and enhanced GPS in mobile phones. It was a time
of many innovations in a world that was changing fast with increased access to technology
and the individualization of work. People were not only seeking better ways of carrying out
their daily activities but also wanting to have control over those activities. Uber is part of the
companies seen as having disrupted the norm. It did so by taking an existing concept and
extending it to respond to new ways of transportation. That is why we need to expand our
thinking on entrepreneurship. The founders were already adept at innovation and had sold
their previous companies for sizeable amounts of money.4
In view of the definition of entrepreneurship proposed here, therefore, let me share some
thoughts on how we could provide students with the foundational skills and knowledge that
will provide an alternative entrepreneurial path, in whatever field they study. The first thing
to do is remember that most learning takes place when students are allowed to take risks even
in the classroom. This means allowing them to make mistakes and even fail. Failure builds
character, inculcates resilience, and removes the focus from perfect grades or right answers
to the process and one’s options and capabilities. When grades, points, marks, etc. are not
seen as terminal but as a step towards success, the student might enjoy the process of learning
and the different turns it may take. We do, however, know that due to an obsession with
grades and summative examinations in many countries, there is such high stigmatization of
mistakes and/or “failure”. Yet humans learn best from mistakes. People who are willing to
make mistakes tend to try more tasks and eventually perfect their acts. How do we encourage
students to see a classroom as a place where they feel safe enough to make mistakes? How do
we affirm those experiences so as to help students build capacity and the willingness to take
risks, think outside the box, and become entrepreneurs in the future?
Other skills that entrepreneurs need to have besides risk-taking are critical thinking and
problem-solving skills. These are skills that allow one to observe a tool, a phenomenon, an
activity, or an operation and see how it functions and how it can be improved. It is the skill that
allows one to critically look at all information given or encountered and ask more questions
than just accept answers at face value. A teacher can encourage these kinds of skills by making
sure students derive the best answers from different sources and especially from contentious
3
See Shontell, 2014, ”All Hail The Uber Man! How Sharp-Elbowed Salesman Travis Kalanick Became Sili-
con Valley’s Newest Star.” Business Insider. Found at https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-travis-kalanick-bio-
2014-1?r=US&IR=T accessed on October 2, 2021.
4
See Scott, Alec, 2015, ”Co-founding Uber made Calgary-born Garrett Camp a billionaire”. Canadian Busi-
ness. Found at https://archiveprod.canadianbusiness.com/lists-and-rankings/richest-people/2016-garrett-camp-
uber/ accessed October 2, 2021.

Academia Letters, October 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Mwenda Ntarangwi, mwendantarangwi@gmail.com

Citation: Ntarangwi, M. (2021). Rethinking Entrepreneurship and University Education. Academia Letters,
Article 3731. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3731.

3
viewpoints. Instead of one seeing a different point of view as an attack on one’s position one
should see it as an invitation to reflect on the building blocks of one’s position, including: why
do I believe this or why do I think this is the right answer? One cannot develop such reflection
if all one is expected to do in the classroom is regurgitate the instructor’s ideas. This self-
reflection is helpful in widening our decision-making tools. Because human brains are wired
to go straight to the model that already exists in one’s system, a willingness to consider a
counter viewpoint takes some training and intentionality. Such a process allows for one to
question the basis upon which a decision is arrived at. This works best if one is surrounded
by different viewpoints and where one’s assumptions are questioned. It also works if we start
asking questions regarding our own decisions: what led me to respond that way, what data
and observations have shaped that, and how can I respond differently?
Taking risks, engaging opposing ideas, critically engaging information including one’s
own, and a willingness to see other possibilities beyond the existing ones is what creates
entrepreneurs. Such entrepreneurs are not limited to business or commerce. It is a life skill
for everyone who will and is able to effectively respond to the unknown and the unchartered.

Academia Letters, October 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Mwenda Ntarangwi, mwendantarangwi@gmail.com

Citation: Ntarangwi, M. (2021). Rethinking Entrepreneurship and University Education. Academia Letters,
Article 3731. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3731.