- a culture that supports and encourages hockey;

- a continuum of skills training at the earliest of ages and at every skill level;

- more than 2,500 indoor hockey rinks and tens of thousands of outdoor rinks;

- approximately 32,000 coaches and officials trained each year; and,

- at least a 1,000,000 organized games and scrimmages played each year.

(Source: http://www.hockeycanada.ca/en)

There is a reason we excel and achieve success – simply put, we’ve built the support infrastructure and capacity to succeed. When we look at our positioning on a world stage related to entrepreneurship, we have to admit that those same success factors simply don’t exist. In fact, the success factors would look very similar:

- a culture that supports and encourages entrepreneurism;

- a continuum of skills training at the earliest of ages and every skill level;

-thousands of experiential learning opportunities;

- tens of thousands of teachers and mentors that can build awareness and skills; and,

- a million opportunities to start businesses and learn from failures and successes.

The reality is we have not built the required support infrastructure and capacity to achieve entrepreneurial success on a world stage (i.e. the type of economic success driven by new, small and medium sized businesses.)

The required infrastructure and support isn’t developed over night, it took us decades to put in place the hockey development program that results in our ongoing success and it will take us some time to do the same for an Entrepreneurship development program.

We need to start promoting entrepreneurism as a viable career option and teaching business skills as early as possible. We wouldn’t tap a 24 year old on the shoulder and ask them to learn how to play hockey so we can compete internationally, why do we think it would work for entrepreneurism? We need to start building out the entrepreneurship support continuum and infrastructure. My thoughts on establishing some preliminary steps  can be found at: http://agawacorp.com/excerpts-from-agawas-sumbission-to-ontarios-mtcu/.

Best-in-class Supportive Programs

There are a number of programs already being delivered in Ontario that can be considered best-in-class at promoting entrepreneurism as a viable career option and supporting new ventures. These programs include (but may not be limited to):

- MEDI’s Summer Company Program

- MEDI’s Youth Entrepreneurship Program

- OCE’s (MEDI funded) Experiential Learning Program

Without exception, each program delivers quality, value and impact. Without exception, each program lacks the required funding, capacity and scale to reach its full potential.  While we look to discover initiatives and programs that will  enhance the student experience and create valuable economic impact, we should not overlook those programs that are currently being successfully delivered already in Ontario.

Recommendation 1:     Look to provide financial leverage, integrate more fully, and encourage the renewal of critical programs that are currently providing impact. These programs include: MEDI’s Summer Company; MEDI’s Youth Entrepreneurship Program; and, OCE’s Experiential Learning Program. 

Entrepreneurship Continuum

Promoting entrepreneurship as a viable career option, teaching business skills as a lifetime asset and supporting entrepreneurial ventures does not have a start or end point. Entrepreneurship is a combination of skills, attitudes and abilities that needs to be encouraged and nurtured forever. Entrepreneurship education is not something to  be “introduced” at some inflection point in a student’s academic career. While many are discussing, analyzing and debating “what” and “when”, others have put a stake in the ground and declared that teaching entrepreneurship as a viable career option, and the skills that go with it across the entire spectrum of grades, is an economic imperative and have simply begun somewhere. There are numerous example programs spanning the entire educational spectrum including:

- The government of China has recently ordered Universities “to start teaching basic courses on entrepreneurship to undergraduates to encourage students to start businesses and become self-employed after graduation.”
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-08/28/content_15714073.htm).
Similarly, the EU passed legislation years ago to ensure that entrepreneurship was being taught in schools – as young as primary schools. See: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/promoting-entrepreneurship/education-training-entrepreneurship/index_en.htm.  Many other specific examples listed on a previous post at http://agawacorp.com/countriesembraceentrepreneurism/.

The promotion of entrepreneurism as a viable career option and the teaching of business skills as a workforce asset is not solely the responsibility of the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities, nor should it reside in only one phase of an academic career. While there are already excellent individual programs and initiatives underway in Ontario (see previous recommendation), it appears as though little is being done to coordinate these programs with an eye to the learning experience and venture support available throughout the academic continuum (K-12-PS). Others, including the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation and the Ministry of Education must work in concert to create a fulsome and comprehensive strategy to build awareness and entrepreneurial skills throughout a students’ academic career – not simply at College or University.

Recommendation 2:     Lead the creation of an inter-ministry working group to craft a best-in-class continuum of entrepreneurship awareness building, skills development and venture supportive programs and initiatives made available to students throughout their academic career.

Post-Secondary Landscape

Colleges and Universities in Ontario are well positioned to provide a training ground and launch point for the next generation of new ventures as well as an   entrepreneurially-minded workforce for our many private enterprises and public organizations.

A recent Agawa review of entrepreneurship capacity at Canadian University campuses was undertaken to analyse capacity within three specific categories:

1. Education – scale and scope of entrepreneurship curriculum.

2. Experiential Learning – opportunities for students to participate in competitions and activities and learning opportunities outside of the classroom to build critical skills.

3. Support for Ventures – actual support for student ventures such as funding, incubation, mentoring etc.

Institutions were ranked on an 8-point scale according to their capacity within each of the three categories and a total score (out of 24) assigned to each institution. The following Ontario-only sample depicts the variance between the average of the top 3 scoring institutions and the average score of the remaining institutions. Our findings reveal that, while the “top 3” Universities in Ontario are well positioned to offer entrepreneurship support (though opportunities exist especially with respect to Venture Support), the majority of Ontario Universities are lagging drastically behind in all categories, especially Experiential Learning.

Entrepreneurship Support Capacity at Ontario Universities

While the Ontario College landscape has not yet been fully analysed, early indication is that the situation is even worst with respect to their entrepreneurship
capacity across all three categories. If future entrepreneurs are important to the economic success of Ontario, it appears as though the situation may be somewhat dire as it relates to entrepreneurial output from Colleges and Universities. Note: entrepreneurial output is not another phrase for “commercialization of research.” The two are very different with the later focusing on (and succeeding or failing with) a product or service, the former focusing on developing entrepreneurial talent that lives on beyond the success or failure of a first venture.

In discussions with Colleges and Universities, there appears to be a strong interest and willingness to build entrepreneurship programming. The consistent limiting factor is funding for capacity to develop and/or implement programs and initiatives. While there seems to exist a patchwork of funding programs available to support entrepreneurship, and specifically youth entrepreneurship programs, there are no scalable programs to help Colleges and Universities build their capacity to develop and deliver programming. The Universities most successful at building capacity and support for entrepreneurism (i.e. the Top 3) are able to do so as a result of successful targeted fundraising campaigns and specific donors, often in the form of a ‘named’ Centre for Entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, these channels may not be easily available to all institutions.

The most successful institutions all have dedicated entrepreneurship staff working to coordinate and implement entrepreneurship activities. These types of staff positions are, unfortunately, not naturally occurring in academic institutions, but are critical to the development and implementation of entrepreneurship support programs. With as little as one staff position and modest program funding, many low-cost, high-impact initiatives can be successfully implemented.

Recommendation 3:     Create a funding vehicle for Colleges and Universities to access for the specific purpose of building on-campus capacity to support entrepreneurship activities.

Way Forward

While many best practises exist already within Ontario, both Ontario government-led initiatives and campus-based programming, the question remains: how can Ontario build on what is currently being done to encourage and nurture entrepreneurs? Where will Ontario be positioned economically 10 years from now when students from around the world graduate having spent their entire academic careers being encouraged into, and learning skills supporting, entrepreneurism?  Ontario is clearly losing out to other Countries in scope, scale and the fulsome integration of entrepreneurship programming throughout the academic life cycle. The time for multi-ministerial coordinated action and commitment is now. The province of Ontario through the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities must ensure a commitment to entrepreneurship and the creation of new ventures by:

1. Leading and ensuring a coordinated and integrated approach to youth entrepreneurship;

2. Adding capacity to already existing best practise initiatives; and,

3. Creating opportunities for Colleges and Universities to initiate campus –specific entrepreneurship programming within their institutions.

What makes The Next 36 so valuable?

In a recent article, China Daily reports that the government of China has ordered Universities “to start teaching basic courses on entrepreneurship to undergraduates to encourage students to start businesses and become self-employed after graduation.” (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-08/28/content_15714073.htm). Similarly, the EU passed legislation years ago to ensure that entrepreneurship was being taught in schools – as young as primary schools. See: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/promoting-entrepreneurship/education-training-entrepreneurship/index_en.htm.  Some specific examples include:

- In Bulgaria, the new Law on Pre-school and School Education, still under discussion in ministerial working groups, envisages entrepreneurship, creativity and developing a sense of initiative as one of the main goals of the educational system in Bulgaria. Entrepreneurship will be included as one of the subjects to be introduced. While the Ministry determines at national level the total number of hours for this area of the curriculum, schools are free to decide how to distribute these hours between a range of subjects.

- In Ireland, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has developed a short senior cycle course on enterprise. It has not yet been incorporated into the curriculum; its implementation is still under discussion between educational stakeholders.

- In Spain, the 2011 reform of the core curriculum for lower secondary education includes a new optional subject in the 4th year  Professional Guidance and Entrepreneurial Initiative. The reform will be implemented in 2012/13; nevertheless, the education authorities are free to implement it from 2011/12.

- In Cyprus, in the new curriculum for primary and secondary education to be implemented in school year 2011/12, emphasis is given to attributes, skills and working methods that enhance entrepreneurial behaviour as a cross-curricular objective.

- In Malta, a draft National Curriculum Framework (NCF) was launched in May 2011 as a consultation document. Education for entrepreneurship is proposed as a cross-curricular theme identified as essential for the education of all students and for achieving the aims of education. It is intended to strengthen the embedding of elements of entrepreneurial behaviour through the integration of entrepreneurship programmes, projects and activities in the established curriculum for schools both at primary and secondary level.

- In Poland, the ongoing curricular reform which will be completed in 2016 focuses on shaping attitudes and competences including entrepreneurship.

- In Sweden, entrepreneurship is part of the ISCED 3 school reform  implemented in 2011, in the form of commentary material on how to look at entrepreneurship in the various programmes, and in the form of a  forthcoming commentary material on the new subject of entrepreneurship, which will be published in 2012.

- In Iceland, national curriculum revisions were launched in 2011 and new subject curricula are expected in 2012. These revisions will include compulsory elements of creative activity for all subjects.

The question becomes: what are you (we) doing to encourage and nurture entrepreneurs? Where will my Country/State/Province/City be positioned economically 10 years from now when kids from around the world graduate having spent their academic careers being encouraged into, and learning skills supporting, entrepreneurism?

What is needed is more action, capacity and certainty around programs, policies and initiatives. Credit to initiatives and organizations that are working to make a change, including Start Up Canada, the Ontario Jobs and Prosperity Council and OCE’s Experiential Learning Program, though we need to move from talking and planning, or in OCE’s case - piloting – to action mode and long-term program commitment with respect to on-the-ground promotion of entrepreneurism and support for entrepreneurs. We are clearly losing out to other Countries in this area and the time for action and commitment is now.

See more at: http://www.syracusestudentsandbox.com/

The message is clear: entrepreneurs create jobs and stimulate economies, at the same time, more of our future leaders are interested in pursuing entrepreneurism. New economic realities and student interest are driving growth in the area of entrepreneurship support and capacity building; this growth is creating strategic advantage for recruitment efforts, student success, fund-raising activities and regional economic development.  Based on the ongoing review of research, survey results and best practices, the following broad success factors have been  developed as a “best case” template in building a best-in-class campus entrepreneurship support ecosystem:

1. Leadership and Strategy– First and foremost, there needs to be palatable support for entrepreneurship capacity building at all levels, especially the most senior. Entrepreneurship support initiatives must be more than a “new program.” The promotion of entrepreneurism and support for student ventures must be incorporated into strategy, policies and procedures across the institution.  In addition, the leader of entrepreneurship initiatives must be adept at dealing within an academic institution, yet also be uniquely qualified as someone who is familiar with entrepreneurship and building the conditions that lead to entrepreneurial success.

2. Funding – There are two parts to funding: first, sustained and sufficient funding for entrepreneurship support; all successful projects require appropriate capacity and funding for supportive projects and initiatives,  not just funding for the efforts of one individual.  Second, funding to support student ventures is a key ingredient and should likely include some combination, or all of: micro financing programs; access to angel and venture capital networks; and, seamless path finding to available grants and loan programs.

3. Community Engagement – Key to the success of any new venture is access to relevant communities which might not be easily accessible. Most student entrepreneurs don’t have experience with, or connections into, these networks. Formal and informal networking opportunities are required for students (and faculty) to link to and learn from potential clients, collaborators, strategic partners, professionals and suppliers.

4. Mentoring – Linked to community engagement, but important enough to have its own category, is mentoring. As with industry and professional networks, students don’t often have deep connections to the key individuals who can guide them along the entrepreneurial path. Formal mentor programs provide great opportunity for alumni involvement and community engagement. Interesting to note that in the most recent Princeton Review of the best Campus entrepreneurship programs, the top 25 institutions all had multiple mentoring programs.

5. Incubation – While a physical incubator or space is not essential, the benefits are very attractive. A formal incubator or “co-location” space provides for a leverage point for recruitment of students and funders, a focal point for broad cross-campus entrepreneurship initiatives and an opportunity for like-minds to benefit from the energy, synergies,  competition and peer learning that often spurs great innovation.

6. Learning – Entrepreneurship courses are different than business courses.  Entrepreneurship courses cannot just be re-purposed or rebranded business courses they must have a focus on early-staged, entrepreneurial ventures.  Also vital to a healthy entrepreneurship ecosystem is the non-credit learning available to students to include personal development, guest speakers and activities & competitions that provide experimentation and skills development opportunities.

7. Celebration  – The promotion of the available opportunities and capacity, as well as the public celebration of success is key to long term sustainability.  All stakeholders need to be well informed and engaged in the ongoing successes and activity of the initiative. Proactive communications and celebrations are vital for student recruitment, fund and sponsor development and for the student entrepreneurs and their business success.

Many practices, best and otherwise, have provided an opportunity to learn and adapt. While some have a head start on entrepreneurship programming and branding, many are playing catch-up. On a positive note, many worthwhile initiatives can be implemented quickly and efficiently with lasting impact. However, speed of implementation is key to gain mind share on campuses and provide economic impact in communities.

Columbia University – Euguene Lang Entrepreneuership Center’s approach to getting alumni involved in Center programs. The above link provides (very nicely) a snapshot of the vast array of programs and how alumni can get involved.

“At the University of Michigan, there are three types of classes: 1) engagement classes where students are made aware of the importance of entrepreneurship 2) skill-building classes 3) practicum classes in which companies and projects are launched. In total, they have 2,500 students in entrepreneurship classes each year. Thomas H. Zurbuchen, the Associate Dean for Entrepreneurship Programs, says that they try and hire entrepreneurs as teachers but in some classes they don’t have a current entrepreneur involved. At the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, they take students beyond the classroom, allowing them to actually test their ideas in real-world situations. Tracey Keller, an Associate Director of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship, says that students not only take courses, but participate in competitions and labs, which give them practical tools to help start, finance and manage their own businesses. At Boston University, Peter R. Russo, the Director of Entrepreneurship Programs, says that all of their professors have been entrepreneurs.”

The Center is dedicated to developing relationships with
other academic units at UNLV. Recently the Center has forged a relationship
with the College of Engineering. Specifically, College of Business graduate students
enrolled in entrepreneurship courses are now helping with the commercialization
of technology innovations developed by the COE students.