NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES TO SPONSOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATORS IN U.S.

Bolanle Akanji

Moderator
ENTREPRENEURSHIP educators from Nigerian
universities will lead other African
entrepreneurship educators in the first African
BABSON Symposium for Entrepreneurship
Educators (SEE) to be offered by BABSON SEE,
world leaders in Entrepreneurship Education at
Babson Park, United States of America (USA) in
January 2014.
The Nigerian Universities’ Entrepreneurship
Educators re-empowerment programme is
coordinated by African Partner of BABSON
Executive and Enterprise Education - Larry C.
Fejokwu of AIA-Global Consultancy Services.
The Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) has
strongly recommended the BABSON-SEE-
programme to Nigerian universities and
requested the vice chancellors from accredited
universities to nominate and sponsor a team of
two, an academic staff and a director of
Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC), to
participate in the USA-SEE programme.
Entrepreneurship, generally regarded as the
economic force that transformed U.S. into the
most powerful economy in the world, has now
become a compulsory course for students in all
disciplines in Nigerian universities.
Nigerian Universities’ Entrepreneurship
Educators will be joining the 3,000 alumni from
680 other institutions worldwide from 57
countries globally, who have participated in the
high impact BABSON-SEE. No African country has
collectively sponsored its Entrepreneurship
Educators to participate in the BABSON SEE USA
programme.
The NUC, as regulator of Nigerian universities, is
currently stimulating Entrepreneurship Education
as part of the minister’s directive to establish the
Bachelor of Science degree in Entrepreneurship in
universities. The NUC Executive Secretary, in his
Preface to the BMAs document (Basic Minimum
Academic Standard), GST Entrepreneurship said,
“Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian
universities will serve as a catalyst to stimulate
entrepreneurial capitalism that would produce
graduates who will be job creators.
The Federal Government should declare a
‘Marshal Plan’ in the university education sector
by investing massively in special universities to be
recognised as National Landmark universities to
be entrepreneurially-driven. To achieve the rapid
economic development and to reduce
unemployment, the governments, private and
public sector leaders and philanthropists should
endow “Entrepreneurial Professorial Chairs’ in
universities.
For Nigeria to attain her dream of joining the
2020 industrial mission, Nigerian private sector
should independently launch a 500 billion-
university development fund over the next three
years.
The USA BABSON SEE initiatives for Nigerian
universities should be sponsored by Nigerian
private sectors economic and political leaders.
Sponsors and supporters of Nigerian University
Educators Capacity building in U.S. will be
contributing immensely to transform Nigeria and
Nigerian universities’ educational system to rank
among the best in the world. Such patriotic
stakeholders, who sponsor Nigerian Universities
Entrepreneurship Educators in U.S., will become
partners of Nigerian’s current economic
emancipation for national rebirth, the coordinator
rematch.
According to the NUC, vice chancellors should
send their nominations comprising an academic
staff and a director of EDC- Entrepreneurship
Development Center to Dr. S. B. Ramon Yusuf,
Acting Director, Open and Distance Education
Department for administrative processing at the
NUC- Headquarters Abuja.
The Nigerian Universities Entrepreneurship
Educators from universities sponsoring Fellows
will also participate in other programmes to U.S.
to expose them to the entrepreneurship ingenuity
of U.S. the entrepreneurial capital of the world.
The Nigerian Universities Fellows will benefit
from BABSON’s SEE programme whose goal is to
“foster regional entrepreneurial growth and
economic development through Entrepreneurship
education”.
“The programme also seeks to develop an ever-
increasing cadre of innovative entrepreneurship
educators who understand the importance of
creating intellectual and practical connections
between theory and practice in teaching”.
According to the Dean, Dr. Elaine Eisenman,
BABSON-SEE programmes have been developed
and held in numerous countries and regions
around the world, including Argentina, Chile,
China, Ecuador, Ireland, Malaysia, Puerto-Rico,
Russia, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Venezuela,
Costa Rica, USA, among others.
She confirmed that Nigerian educators will be
equipped with the Babson Entrepreneurial
“Thought and Action” strategy to stimulate
growth and accelerated development of
Entrepreneurship Educators.
Entrepreneurship, according to Babson, is the
most powerful force in the world for creating
economic and social value.
Coordinator of the USA-Africa Entrepreneurship
Project Team and Babson Country Partners,
Fejokwu, stated that the USA BABSON Fellows,
after their training, would be inducted into the
Nigerian Honorary Fellows who will lead other
Nigerians in the Train-the-Trainer programme to
stimulate entrepreneurship especially for
unemployed NYSC graduates in the 36 states and
FCT in Nigeria.
The Visionary Entrepreneurship Empowerment
Programme (VEEP) programme to be launched -
will offer training and support to unemployed
graduates using USA Entrepreneurial Modules
developed by AIA-Global Partners, the USA-
Entrepreneurship Leaders will also visit Nigeria to
offer practical entrepreneurship training and
assist trainees to establish small business
enterprises, with the very successful U.S. SBA
strategy.
 
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