Successful entrepreneurship is less about having the perfect idea than developing the mindset and practical skills to test ideas, learn from setbacks, understand customers and adapt to changing circumstances. As Morris Mthombeni, dean of the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science, tells the FM, entrepreneurship education has a role to play at every stage — from teaching children curiosity and problem-solving to helping MBA students navigate the unpredictable realities of building and scaling a business.
FM: It is sometimes said that entrepreneurs who have failed become better entrepreneurs. Is this true?
Morris Mthombeni: Failure is paradoxical in nature, with both constructive and destructive outcomes. Most entrepreneurs don’t overcome the social and psychological trauma experienced from failure. In addition, the emotional and financial trauma may have a negative impact on the absorptive capacity of lessons during and post-failure, ultimately affecting engagement with the entrepreneurial process.
Useful learning from failure is mostly a consequence of one’s mindset when starting a venture. Such a mindset is one that is open to the possibility of failure and demonstrated in the basis for action attitude as well as an inclination to embrace trial and error from the outset.
FM: What are the most consequential mistakes among South African entrepreneurs?
MM: The prevailing perceptions are that it is all about the idea; the belief that funding is the only factor for success and must be available before one starts; the expectation that ideas will be funded rather than defined; the expectation that government must provide the funding; a tendency to disengage too quickly; and not being able to differentiate between personal and business finances in the early stages.
We have also identified a common mistake to be the expectation of quick results and a desire to scale before the business is properly developed. Another aspect is not understanding the implications of adapting the business model for scaling.
Last, many entrepreneurs underestimate the value of collaboration, which affects access to the market. This happens particularly in agribusinesses, which are driven by large volumes. Many entrepreneurs approach customers on their own and fail to meet the required quantities.
FM: How does an MBA prepare entrepreneurs for the real world?
MM: Primarily by guiding them from idea conceptualisation to prototyping, which requires engagements with potential customers and the unpredictable nature of the market. Further, by providing insights into the fluid, volatile business ecosystem using a mix of classroom lectures, simulated business exercises, case discussions and shared experiences with practising entrepreneurs who are invited to the discussions.
FM: Is it ever too early for children to learn about business and entrepreneurship?
MM: It is never too early to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, provided the learning is age-appropriate. Education for children should begin with curiosity, problem-solving, creativity, responsibility and a simple insight: value is created when we understand and respond to the needs of others. A child who can notice a problem, develop an idea, test it, listen to feedback and improve the solution is already practising the foundations of entrepreneurship.
The goal is not to turn every child into a business owner, nor should that be the expectation. The wider educational purpose is to help every learner become more resourceful, adaptable and capable of creating value as an entrepreneur, employee, professional or community leader.
FM: In a country where most young people face a jobless future, the need for business creation has never been greater. Can early business-education interventions at school create a generation of go-getters and job-creators?
MM: Schools can make a meaningful contribution, but we should resist the seductive claim that a short course or pitch competition will automatically create job-creators. Inspiration can widen horizons, but it does not remove the cost of transport, lack of data, limited family resources, weak business networks, inaccessible procurement systems or the absence of a first customer. Education must therefore build capability and connect learners to an ecosystem of opportunity.
Schools can develop confidence, commercial awareness, initiative and competence. They can teach learners to recognise opportunities, understand customers, manage money, work in teams, communicate ideas and recover from setbacks. Yet entrepreneurship cannot be taught effectively through textbooks and examinations. It must be experienced.