Amazingly, the most powerful insights and keys are usually very simple although not apparent on the surface of things.
Recently, I was watching an interview of Mrs. Rosa Whitaker Duncan Williams, wife of Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams, on Joy TV – PM Express hosted by Stephen Anti – and in response to a question about adjusting to living in Ghana and being a mother, she said that one of her initial shocks is how children in their late teens still asked their parents for money in reference to her step children. Apparently, she was on her own at 16. No wonder she has done so well for herself I thought.
That got me thinking and it dawned on me that, perhaps, the reason for the state of our economy - the dearth of entrepreneurial zeal and skills in young people leading to the high unemployment we decry - may not necessarily be due to the lack of knowledge of entrepreneurship - something business schools are happily exploiting – but rather in how Ghanaian kids, especially from the middle class are raised: GENERALLY, WE ARE NOT MADE TO BECOME INDEPENDENT EARLY ENOUGH!!
I have noticed from reading the success stories of entrepreneurs in Ghana and the world over that such people, usually through circumstances, were forced to be independent early in life and that helped shape entrepreneurial drives and skills in them. In the US, the hotbed of entrepreneurship, young people are made to get out of their nests much earlier than their counterparts here in Ghana etc. In the US, you’d find young college students working to pay their way through school even though they come from middle class backgrounds. Not so in Ghana. Most youth from middle class families STILL depend on pocket money from their parents or loans whilst in university. Perhaps, that may also explain our obsession with aid and loans as grown ups!! The exception are the “bogas” (students who travel to do menial jobs during school vacations to earn some money) who are usually in the minority. In fact, people who traveled outside while in the University especially to work tend to be more self-sufficient and more likely to be entrepreneurs than those who didn’t.
This way of raising children – our future leaders - by not exposing them to the realities of life early inhibits the development of entrepreneurial behaviors. Also, most Ghanaian youth stay with their parents until they are preparing to get married. I am of the view that this particular cultural pattern of delayed exposure to the real world hampers the development of entrepreneurial skills in us. The experience of fending for yourself alone is enough education in how to be a good business person than all the entrepreneurship courses in all the business schools combined.
I have noticed that most successful entrepreneur types in business, politics, church are usually people who through difficult circumstances, usually poverty, had to fend for themselves quite early in their lives forcing them to develop these critical skills which helped them later in life.
Rather than focusing on workshops, seminars and books on the subject, we must complement these by getting young people to be on their own much earlier than prevails now. Government, schools and churches need to in their various ways begin to get us to be more independent and self-sufficient than we have been.
That, perhaps, may be the key to unlocking all the entrepreneurial energies buried in our youth which will transform our dear nation.
NB: This piece was first published in my Facebook notes on June 4, 2013.
Recently, I was watching an interview of Mrs. Rosa Whitaker Duncan Williams, wife of Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams, on Joy TV – PM Express hosted by Stephen Anti – and in response to a question about adjusting to living in Ghana and being a mother, she said that one of her initial shocks is how children in their late teens still asked their parents for money in reference to her step children. Apparently, she was on her own at 16. No wonder she has done so well for herself I thought.
That got me thinking and it dawned on me that, perhaps, the reason for the state of our economy - the dearth of entrepreneurial zeal and skills in young people leading to the high unemployment we decry - may not necessarily be due to the lack of knowledge of entrepreneurship - something business schools are happily exploiting – but rather in how Ghanaian kids, especially from the middle class are raised: GENERALLY, WE ARE NOT MADE TO BECOME INDEPENDENT EARLY ENOUGH!!
I have noticed from reading the success stories of entrepreneurs in Ghana and the world over that such people, usually through circumstances, were forced to be independent early in life and that helped shape entrepreneurial drives and skills in them. In the US, the hotbed of entrepreneurship, young people are made to get out of their nests much earlier than their counterparts here in Ghana etc. In the US, you’d find young college students working to pay their way through school even though they come from middle class backgrounds. Not so in Ghana. Most youth from middle class families STILL depend on pocket money from their parents or loans whilst in university. Perhaps, that may also explain our obsession with aid and loans as grown ups!! The exception are the “bogas” (students who travel to do menial jobs during school vacations to earn some money) who are usually in the minority. In fact, people who traveled outside while in the University especially to work tend to be more self-sufficient and more likely to be entrepreneurs than those who didn’t.
This way of raising children – our future leaders - by not exposing them to the realities of life early inhibits the development of entrepreneurial behaviors. Also, most Ghanaian youth stay with their parents until they are preparing to get married. I am of the view that this particular cultural pattern of delayed exposure to the real world hampers the development of entrepreneurial skills in us. The experience of fending for yourself alone is enough education in how to be a good business person than all the entrepreneurship courses in all the business schools combined.
I have noticed that most successful entrepreneur types in business, politics, church are usually people who through difficult circumstances, usually poverty, had to fend for themselves quite early in their lives forcing them to develop these critical skills which helped them later in life.
Rather than focusing on workshops, seminars and books on the subject, we must complement these by getting young people to be on their own much earlier than prevails now. Government, schools and churches need to in their various ways begin to get us to be more independent and self-sufficient than we have been.
That, perhaps, may be the key to unlocking all the entrepreneurial energies buried in our youth which will transform our dear nation.
NB: This piece was first published in my Facebook notes on June 4, 2013.
