Knowledge Track - Policy Discussion

The Need and Way forward for Indigenizing Entrepreneurial Education

The foundation of Entrepreneurship teaching was laid off in Harvard Business School in 1947 with introduction of a dedicated courser on Entrepreneurship[i]. In the next seven decades the number of institutions teaching entrepreneurship reached over 3000 all across the world[ii]. The initial focus of Entrepreneurial Education (EE) was to ‘inform students about entrepreneurship’, which gradually and aptly shifted to ‘prepare students for entrepreneurship’ by developing mindset and skills that are required to become an entrepreneur[iii]. Although there is no agreed definition and best model of teaching entrepreneurship, there is a wide agreement that EE is “oriented specially at business creation and growth and more generally comprises a teaching model … to encourage enterprising individuals through the development of entrepreneurial competencies[iv]”

The critics argue that the discourse of EE is beset by intellectual colonialism where core knowledge of the field and mainstream curricula tends to deny, or at best undervalue, the alternate indigenous knowledge[v]. Specifically, extant research underscores following limitations of entrepreneurship theory and practice:

On the front of entrepreneurship theory and scholarship, there are concerns of cultural captivity: a view that entrepreneurship theories are built on the foundations of neoliberalism and capitalism that are oblivious and incompatible with place-based contextual opportunities and entrepreneurial practices[vi].

Entrepreneurial education is underpinned by US led western centric world view that impedes business schools to develop curriculum and pedagogies tailored to contextual problems and possibilities prevalent in the indigenous communities[vii].

Theme	Discussion Questions
Entrepreneurship Theory	Do we need a radically different theory of entrepreneurship that challenges the assumptions of neoliberalism, capitalism, and western world view? OR A focus on micro-level studies – that explore the contextual and cultural differences and add to the existing theory of entrepreneurship – would suffice the indigenization thrust?
Entrepreneurship Curriculum	What is the limitation in western-ideology-based curriculum while using it in Asian, and especially Pakistani, context? How can we make our entrepreneurship curriculum more relevant to local context? What would be challenges in it?
Indigenous pedagogies for EE	What is the plausibility of developing context specific and culturally informed pedagogies of entrepreneurial education? How can these pedagogies ensure a collaborative network of stakeholders such as entrepreneurship teachers, university administration, entrepreneurs, industry, venture capitalist, development agencies, regulators, and local communities? How can we augment capacity of out faculty members to develop and implement indigenous pedagogies for imparting Entrepreneurship Education?

[i] Nabi, G., Liñán, F., Fayolle, A., Krueger, N., & Walmsley, A. 2017. The impact of entrepreneurship education in higher education: A systematic review and research agenda. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 16: 277–299

[ii] Morris, M., & Liguori, E. 2016. Preface: Teaching reason and the unreasonable. In M. Morris, & R. Liguori (Eds.), Annals of entrepreneurship education and pedagogy

[iii] Pache, A.-C., & Chowdhury, I. 2012. Social entrepreneurs as institutionally embedded entrepreneurs: Toward a new model of social entrepreneurship education. Academy of Management Learning & Education

[iv] Nabi, G., Liñán, F., Fayolle, A., Krueger, N., & Walmsley, A. 2017. The impact of entrepreneurship education in higher education: A systematic review and research agenda. Academy of Management Learning & Education

[v] Moosavi, L. 2020. The decolonial bandwagon and the dangers of intellectual decolonisation. International Review of Sociology, 30: 1–23

[vi] Dana, L. 2015. Indigenous entrepreneurship: An emerging field of research. International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 14: 158–169

[vii] Joy, S., & Poonamallee, L. 2013. Cross-cultural teaching in globalized management classrooms: Time to move from functionalist to postcolonial approaches? Academy of Management Learning & Education