SWBR_v7_issue423August UWTSD

| SOUTH WALES BUSINESS REVIEW ADOLYGIAD BUSNES DE CYMRU |
Building an Enterprising
Economy – the Case for
Entrepreneurship Education at
the International University of
Malaya-Wales (IUMW)
Review: “Just Start: Take
Action, Embrace Uncertainty,
Create the Future”
Compared with many other countries
in the region, Malaysian economic
development including business
start-ups, growth rates, applications
for patents and attraction of foreign
enterprises has been impressive and
on the rise since the Asian economic
crisis of 1998.
To keep this momentum going and
continue to build the country’s vision for
2020 – a knowledge economy, 2018 is a
crucial year. It is now that the paradigm
may shift as the currency is stabilising if
not appreciating, and Malaysia is facing
a potential “brain drain” of enterprising
Malaysian, Indian and Chinese citizens.
Bureaucracy, risk averse regulations and
the government’s job creation scheme
may also lead to disincentives to be selfmotivated
in creation of enterprises.
Education as the driver
to build an enterprising
economy
Therefore the challenge is to create an
enterprising economy. Education has
been tasked to develop the skills that can
transform Malaysian culture to embrace a
real enterprise generation. But education
is seen as traditional, slow to change and
driven by old performance indicators,
which often are at odds with the best
practice of enterprise education.
For 25 years, UWTSD, guided by the
ubiquitous entrepreneurship educators
Kath and Andy Penaluna, has pioneered
these developments. UWTSD believes
that class sessions should be active,
problem solving, encouraging wide
varieties of solutions, engendering
self-sufficiency, self-confidence and
team building; and of course traditional
skills and knowledge are important but
"learning by doing’’ should be the mantra.
IUMW has been inspired to follow
UWTSD's example. It has introduced
Entrepreneurial studies as a compulsory
module across the curriculum to foster
the knowledge of how to set up a
business and prepare a business plan.
Teaching business model canvas needs
to be supported by enhancing innovative
and technological skills. However, simply
preparing a business plan may not be
the true spirit of creating entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurial education also needs
to focus on enhancing innovative skills
for students in technological matters,
something lacking in the Malaysian
education landscape. IUMW ran a
"Dragon’s Den’’ pitch competition and
tied it in with UWTSD’s long standing
Robert Owen Challenge, part of the
annual Enterprise Week activity. IUMW
participated by video link and despite not
winning a prize, all 86 IUMW students
who entered, were enthusiastic and
positive. In addition, Foundation students
produced videos of their start-up ideas,
which were shared with UWTSD. An
Entrepreneurs Club has also been
established. IUMW already has a BA
Business in Entrepreneurship where
students enjoyed practical hands-on
experience, fun and some even have
initiated real business start-ups!
However, it it would be a shame if after
these experiments, students simply
returned to their traditional forms of
learning and assessment. IUMW students
have demonstrated their ability to be self
managing in their learning and creative
in finding solutions to problems. To be
a truly enterprising organization, there is
a need to imbue the whole curriculum
in this same ethos. This is true for all
disciplines and all levels. We cannot
predict what knowledge students will
need in the future but we can develop
the skills to help them thrive in a
dynamic environment.
Steve Griffiths, Deputy Vice
Chancellor, International
University of Malaya-Wales
Sharmila Sethu, Senior Lecturer,
International University of
Malaya-Wales
In an age when the next generation is expected to be
more entrepreneurial than its predecessors, we are awash
with advice on developing this new entrepreneurial class.
However, with so much attention directed to mindboggling
technology, disruption and hustling, too little
consideration is given to just getting this generation
started with the process of creating ‘simple’ value. A
gem of a book on this topic, Just Start, published several
years ago provides a clear pathway for all on the process
of dealing with uncertainty. The authors note that
many serial entrepreneurs take action, coping with the
ambiguity common to most value creating processes,
whilst having very little specific initial information.
Framing this process as moving from ‘the known’
towards ‘the unknown’, the authors bring the start line
closer for all. The idea of smart steps, using current
resources, moving forward, reflecting and learning;
offer a simple, yet effective means of taking action
on one’s ideas. There are echoes of the effectuation
process present throughout, but the readability
divorces the ideas here from those infected with
academic prose. Consequently, there is support for
‘thinking of acting’, rather than ‘acting on thinking’.
The authors ask the potential value creator to act,
in order to know: 1. It is possible? 2. Can I do it? 3.
Is it worth doing? 4. Do I want to do it? The action,
or creation, orientation is a timely antidote to the
over-hyped prescriptions that the next generation
of entrepreneurs are increasingly exposed to; do
yourself a favour, just start!
“Just Start: Take Action, Embrace Uncertainty,
Create the Future” by Leonard A. Schlesinger,
Charles Kiefer, Paul B. Brown, 2012
Dr. Colin Jones, Senior Lecturer in
Entrepreneurship at Queensland University
of Technology Business School and Visiting
Professor at the International Institute of
Creative Entrepreneurial Development,
University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
20 | Vol 7 Issue 4 2018
Vol 7 Issue 4 2018 | 21