Kampala: Chronicles of a PhD student.

- The debate between curricular and extracurricular types of entrepreneurship education -

Our education system gets criticised for being stuck in the colonial era and not being relevant for today's challenges. While this challenge is global, the accusation is probably fair for sub-saharan countries like Uganda. 

Often ignored in this debate are structural and legacy challenges in academia, or in the case of entrepreneurs, the various #entrepreneurship #ecosystems, and the role they play in this mismatch.

Yesterday, I was privileged to interview the team from Makerere University's College of Business and Management Sciences (COBAMS) which included Dr. Peter Turyakira and Dr. Bimbona Sarah, both very passionate about entrepreneurship. 

We also had a chance to discuss plans for this years #Leap #Conference slated for August. 

OBSERVATION / REFLECTION

On my way to the interview at COBAMS, I used the route via Kalerwe Market, and had a first hand / visual lesson in Uganda's classic "downtown" entrepreneurship.

So as I headed to town for my next engagement, whilst waiting for the chaos at Wandegeya traffic ?? lights to clear, I found myself reflecting about the theory and practice sides of entrepreneurship.

In this seemingly chaotic traffic maze at Wandegeya, and the dirt around Kalerwe Market, you can feel Uganda's entrepreneurial spirit and heartbeat, first hand.

THE DILEMMA

Most of these folks didn't even make it to Uni. Yet, here they are, hustling away, quite literally from the trenches.

So the debate between the effectiveness of curricular (in class) and extracurricular (outside of class) types of entrepreneurship education continues, and so does my PhD research.

Looking forward to interviewing MUBS students today.

#Reflection #2020.