By: Dwight Links
Danny Meyer from SME Compete indicated that training entrepreneurship early on within education is a good idea.
“It is commendable what the example at the Woodies Creations of Waldorf are doing, and it is something that the Ministry of Education, some years ago, had in place already for the public school system,” Meyer explained.
Waldorf School has a business mechanism in place that allows the learners who are taught woodwork and crafting to sell their creations directly to a market that allows them to earn a percentage and for the school to earn from that sale.
In turn, the learners are exposed to direct customer negotiations and interactions to build valuable soft skills and selling methods for various clientele.
Meyer outlined that this is a good example to prepare the youth for their futures in various capacities.
“I just want to add that there is a problem in Namibia in distinguishing or separating a self-employed person and real entrepreneurs. Self-employed work for themselves, and the entrepreneur is the person who displays entrepreneurial traits,” Meyer added.
According to him, the clearest description you would see is the young people selling food along the roads or in the various informal areas of the city.
“You can consider these ‘agents’ that people interact with. And many people would say – oh, there are a lot of entrepreneurs – no, these are self-employed people and there are many of them,” he said.
Practical vs Theory
Meyer highlighted that the system, as portrayed in the Woodies Creations example, is one that actually provides a contrast to the template found in the public school system.
“So, what the schools are doing is excellent. If you ignite a spark of entrepreneurship at an early age, and you do some practical and not only theoretical work, it will bring out the ones who display entrepreneurial tendencies in a cohort or class,” Meyer mentioned.
He is of the notion that the learner will position themselves through factors of enjoying entrepreneurship, or they will continue developing their skills for the future.
“They might get more practical experience, which is key. They might start a side hustle, and eventually they will start in the informal sector, which is the incubation for entrepreneurship for Namibia, and then they progress to becoming the established businesses in the country,” he expanded.
Two learners from the Waldorf School who spoke on their exposure to woodwork and crafts highlighted that they would appreciate equal exposure to theory in their secondary school levels, as opposed to only doing practical school work from the various skills development courses in their school.
The learners, Dawid and Crisentia, both explained that they were exposed to basic culinary skills, computer skills, and electrical work besides the woodwork.
Meyer added that though some schools have entrepreneurship days, there is very little exposure to actual market functions and interactions.
“Like a teacher that teaches the subject and being able to show the learners the realities of the market and the interactions with real-world examples, like touring a factory, taking the children to other settings where they can see what it is to be an entrepreneur,” he indicated.
Another viable example for exposing learners to real-world business examples would be for teachers to take them to different business expos and trade fairs in the country to show them the various businesses participating in the country’s markets.
