Reflections from the Zambezi

Entrepreneurship training is relevant in a market-driven economy for a number of reasons. Some of these are: (a) It develops creativity and innovation that are required for one to take advantage of the business opportunities offered in a market-driven economy; (b) It exposes students to successful role models and highlights the challenges they have faced and how they have overcome; (c) It provides students with knowledge, skills and attitudes that enable them to create wealth and jobs in a market-driven economy; (d) It provides students with confidence to become entrepreneurs in a challenging market environment. Recommendations for Improving Entrepreneurship Training in Zambia In order to strengthen entrepreneurship training in Zambia and other African countries there is need to vocationalise general education, set up business incubators in communities, include aspects of psychology of would be and actual entrepreneurs in entrepreneurship training and document best practices in entrepr...

In the pre-independence days in Zambia, there were a very small number of businessmen who could be called entrepreneurs. By the time of independence, Zambia did not have businessmen and women who were experienced in handling complex businesses. African businesses only started to grow when a cash economy became the standard for business transactions. Zambia gained its independence with a less than well-developed African bourgeoisie, ill-equipped to administer the economy (Chipungu, 1992:174-175). Entrepreneurship in Zambia has arisen due to a number of factors. Some have started enterprises due to retrenchments as a consequence of privatisation of parastatal firms between 1992 and 1999 (Konayuma, 2006: 29). Others have become entrepreneurs to supplement their incomes in order to meet family budget needs. A number of government ministries have policies that support entrepreneurship development. These include the Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Policy, the Yo...

This article discusses the inter-relatedness of entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity and change. This is done by first defining each of these terms and examining how inter-related they are. DEFINITIONS Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is defined as the process whereby an individual or a group of individuals uses organised efforts and means to pursue opportunities to create value and growth by fulfilling wants and needs through innovation and uniqueness, no matter what resources are currently controlled (Robbins and Coulter, 2004:43). Innovation Innovation involves finding new and better ways of doing things that are commercialised (Rwigema and Venter, 2004:113). This is similar to Zimmerer and Scarborough (2005:35) who define innovation as the ability to apply creative solutions to problems and opportunities to enrich people’s lives. Drucker (2002:96) defines it as the effort to create purposeful focussed change in an enterprise’s social or economic potential. Creativity Creati...