Emad Saif Center for Entrepreneurship

Qatar University

CAN WE ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

TEACH

#GEWQATAR @QUCFE

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ENTREPRENEURSHIP Is important

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Create jobs

Economic growth

Source of innovation

Personal development

ENTREPRENEURSHIP TREND

ENTREPRENEURSHIP TREND

23 Million Businesses in USA

40 Million Jobs in the past 30 years

49% Increase since 1982

www.topcollegeonline.org

ENTREPRENEURSHIP COURSES In the past 40 years …

104

600

5,000+

Universities that have entrepreneur courses in 1975

Schools that have entrepreneur courses in 1986

Courses in entrepreneurship offered at 2,600 schools by

2013

www.topcollegeonline.org

ENTREPRENEURSHIP TREND

0

50

100

150

200

250

Fall2012

Spring2013

Fall2013

Spring2014

Fall2014

Spring2015

Fall2015

Spring2016

Fall2016

Minor in Entrepreneurship

Total Students

identifying meaningful problems and executing on novel solutions

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

NOT solely on the creation of new businesses

Can we teach a person to become an entrepreneur? ENTREPRENEUR EDUCATION

person Entrepreneur

NEED MORE ENTREPRENEURS!

CAN WE ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

TEACH

YOU CAN’T

OH YES, WE CAN

Entrepreneurs are born not made

Entrepreneurship can’t be taught in classrooms like other subjects

Academics are not fit to teach Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs don’t need education … look at Zuckerberg, Jobs and Gates!

Where are the success stories? WHERE ARE THE SUCCESS STORIES?

VALID ARGUMENTS

QUALITY OF ENTREP-EDUCATION

WHO is teaching

WHAT is being taught

HOW it is being taught

WHO is learning it

ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECOSYSTEM

WHO is teaching

• Do entrepreneurship educators have entrepreneurial experience?

• Can they teach and inspire?

• Are they relatable to local aspiring entrepreneurs?

• Are they actively involved in the entrepreneurship ecosystem?

Management Professor

Industry Expert

Guest Entrepreneur

?

Entrepreneurial Experience

Work Experience

Teaching Experience

Charisma & influence

Active Network

WHO CAN TEACH ENTREPRENUERSHIP?

+ + + + ENTREPRENUERSHIP EDUCATOR

WHAT is being taught

• What information are we teaching our students?

(i.e. business concepts & theory)

• What skills are we teaching our students?

(i.e. writing a business plan, negotiate, pitch ideas)

• What can’t we teach our students? (i.e. be creative, take risk, have a vison)

TEACHABLE

Negotiation Business Planning

Pitching Market Research

Write a business plan

NOT TEACHABLE

Passion Creativity

Taking Risk Perseverance

Vision

Not implementable by everyone

Divergent Thinking (Using Imagination)

Convergent Thinking (Using logic)

Lateral Thinking (Using both)

IDEA IDEA

IDEA

IDEA IDEA

IDEA ANSWER QUESTION

FACT FACT

FACT

FACT FACT

FACT

DEVELOP LATERAL THINKING INSTEAD OF TRADITIONAL THINKING

SHIFT FOCUS TO SOFT SKILLS INSTEAD OF JUST TECHNICAL BUSINESS SKILLS

HOW it is being taught

• Are we applying best practices & using latest entrepreneurship tools?

• Are we emphasizing practice or theory?

• Are we localizing our teaching approach or just copying others?

• Are we evaluating our performance and improving our approach?

“ What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing ”

- Aristotle

BABSON COLLEGE ranked 1st in Entrepreneurship Began offering its Entrepreneurship program in 1967

Play

Empathy

Creation Experimentation

Reflection ENTREPRENEURSHIP

PRACTICE

TEACHING USING QUILTS & PUZZLES

SUCCESS STORIES

UNIQUE ECOSYSTEMS

• Berkeley offers incubator support to startups

• MIT allows independent activity periods for hands-on experience across campus

• Cornell combines courses across disciplines containing entrepreneurship content to create degree

• Harvard offers MBAs

SHIFT FOCUS TO MORE INTERACTIVITY & LESS THEORY

WHO is learning it

• Who are interested in learning entrepreneurship?

(students, entrepreneurs, employees, educators …etc. • What are their demographics?

• What are their skills? Any previous startup experience?

• What are their motivations & goals?

“ It’s not whether we can teach entrepreneurship, of course we can do that. It’s who you can teach it to ”

Steve Blank

Silicon Valley serial-entrepreneur

11.5 million

Entrepreneurs in USA

Average Age:

40

95% Bachelor's degree

47% Advanced degree

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL DEMOGRAPHICS

www.topcollegeonline.org

THE WAY FORWARD

NOT strictly to produce entrepreneurs

OUR GOAL as entrepreneurship educators

Inspire people to learn about entrepreneurship & their role in it

Can we teach a person to become an entrepreneur? ENTREPRENEUR EDUCATION

person Entrepreneur

think entrepreneurially?

Entrepreneurial person

ENTREPRENEUR EDUCATION

Entrepreneurial person

Entrepreneur

Intrepreneur

Social Entrepreneur

Supporter

THE WAY FORWARD 1. DEVELOP OUR ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION

• Who is teaching it? • What is being taught? • How it’s being taught? • Who is learning it? • How to build the ecosystem?

2. MEASURE SUCCESS DIFFERENTLY

• Entrepreneurial Mindset not just number of startups

3. HIGHLIGHT & SUPPORT LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS

4. SET REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS ABOUT ENTREPRENEURSHIP • Building a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem takes time

CAN WE ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

TEACH

YES, WE CAN!

STILL LEARNING

HOW WE ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

TEACH

Emad Saif Center for Entrepreneurship

Qatar University @esaif | www.emadsaif.com

THANK YOU! #GEWQATAR @QUCFE