VAE 511: Livestock Entrepreneurship (1+0)

ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH TRAINING

• Studies on the entrepreneur have revealed that both cultural or social factors and personality factors are related to entrepreneurial behaviour. Entrepreneurs are more likely to emerge from permissive middle class families.
• Closely-knit and extended families tend to discourage mobility, self-reliance and initiative which are essential qualities of entrepreneurs. Further more, children of parents with business-related occupations, members of unstable families have been found to have greater entrepreneurial propensity. Since there are cultural and personality factors which bear upon entrepreneurial behaviour, entrepreneurship development policies and programmes should be so devised that individuals with latent potentials for entrepreneurship can be selected and trained effectively to tap such potentials.
• It is in this regard that the training approach to entrepreneurship development come to the fore. Experiences in entrepreneurship development have led many to conclude that significant increase in indigenous entrepreneurship can indeed by stimulated by a well-balanced training programme, that is including appropriate selection of both trainers and trainees, motivation and techniques of enterprise building and management. Training increases human productivity. Specifically, it provides the entrepreneur with a better comprehension of his environment as well as with a wider range of alternatives for decision-making. Training further equips him for innovations. It therefore, becomes a tool for entrepreneurship complementing direct assistance such as environmental stimulation and government incentives.
• The training approach should addresses two broad categories of people:
  • Those who are entrepreneurs in status whether by choice or circumstance, and
  • Those who are potential entrepreneurs but are dysfunctionally engaged in non-industrial activities.
• Training the first group is directed at improving business performance and raising aspiration levels higher, as indicated by greater readiness (and success) in expanding existing businesses and taking the risks of introducing change. Training the second group entails the convincing of individuals of the social and economic advantages of industrial activity. People in less developed areas need to understand their potential contributions to society as they assume risks or break away from the bonds of tradition.