For Nigeria to boost the growth of its troubled economy, it must embrace entrepreneurial skills applicable to the 21st-century world, experts have said.
Nigeria’s economy has remained in its fragile state, growing below the country’s population, despite its vast natural resources.
The experts, who spoke at a virtual meeting organised by the Institute of Entrepreneurial Excellence Innovation and Sustainability (IEEIS), explained that as global markets expand with the emergence of African intra-trade initiatives, alongside people looking for opportunities; entrepreneurial skills have become the most fundamental tool for adapting and transforming lives and economies.
These skills include looking out for new ways to solve problems even with constrained resources.
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“The mind-set that once enabled us to thrive is becoming obsolete and maladaptive to the new world,” said Gary Schoeniger, founder and CEO, Entrepreneur Learning Institute (ELI).
“We need entrepreneurial thinkers in all levels of the society to deliver the needed change,” he added.
According to him, exhibiting entrepreneurial mindset begins with solving problems in an atmosphere, full of ambiguity and constrained resources.
He noted that Nigerians need to learn how to design and create micro experiments and think creatively and critically, believing they are in charge of their future, as opposed to the employee mindset where it is believed that someone else will teach.
The definition of maladaptive, Gary noted is the inability to recognise that circumstances change and new rules are required.
“When we look at the entrepreneurial concept, what we see is someone creative, a critical thinker, someone who can identify and solve problems when the path is not clear or the rules well defined,” he said.
Gary, who spoke to hundreds of local and international investors at the event, explained that the problem with most nations of the world was thinking entrepreneurship.
Ngozi Ogoke, president, Institute of Entrepreneurial Excellence Innovation and Sustainability (IEEIS), said the nation must integrate entrepreneurship into its curriculum to equip the young generation with necessary skills to face the 21st century.
According to her, Nigerian entrepreneurs need to develop the mindset that will enable them to thrive amid adversity.
“Nigeria needs to learn how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, identify opportunities and set a goal; and this must begin in our educational system,” she said
