13th Annual International Management Conference Proceeding

ecognize and nourish their capabilities (Khanka, 2004). In Kenya, entrepreneurial attributes are nurtured in
different institutions. KIA offers training, research and consultancy services to improve its clientele’s
performance. The Institute can develop other demand-driven programmes around some of these attributes.
1.1.3 Entrepreneurship Development in the World
The extent of development of enterprise culture varies with countries due to challenges and strategies
experienced. In Europe, the Lisbon European Council of March 2000 set for the European Union the strategic
objective of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge economy in the world by promoting
entrepreneurship among other initiatives (Hull, 2003). The Commission analyses and studies how to
ameliorate the overall environment that enterprises have to operate in.
In 1994 Belgium introduced in Wallonia, the "Enterprise discovery open days" event for the public to have
the opportunity to discover the business world over one weekend. This raises the profile of entrepreneurs,
reveals the value of their work and improves integration in the region networking.
Greece encourages self-employment and provides the knowledge required for the undertaking of
entrepreneurial initiatives. The current network of entrepreneurship centres for young people enables them to
search for the information needed to set up their own business or to co-operate with their peers in a productive
environment. This fits in the Gibb’s enterprise culture framework used in this study. In Poland, the most
important and prestigious awards given to entrepreneurs are the President of the Republic Business Awards,
also called the Business "Nobel" as strategies to encourage entrepreneurship.
Britain launched the Enterprise Insight in May 2000 to bring about a substantial increase in proentrepreneurial
attitudes. Today, UK has 3.4m self-employed people. Entrepreneurship as a career choice is
becoming more attractive using realistic role models; and images that portray a holistic view of what it means
to be entrepreneurial. All these factors require individuals, in businesses, to spot opportunities, take initiatives
and adapt to changing circumstances. Many institutions are set to develop entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship
needs to be seen as a positive and worthwhile activity, so that those who are attracted to it are supported and
encouraged. But, fewer people in the UK think being an entrepreneur is a good career choice in Kenya than in
the US.
Lack of poorly developed entrepreneurial capacity in Africa is one of the main factors contributing towards the
continent’s poor socio-economic performance. Africa has the highest rate of entrepreneurial development but
also highest rates of poverty and unemployment. In response, many African governments have been
implementing entrepreneurship policies and programmes aimed to develop entrepreneurial capacity with
moderate success. The economies of Southern Africa are characterized by large informal sectors Botswana has
a relatively better enterprise culture due to good macro-economic policies and governance among others factors
(Themba, 2006). But most of these countries have weak enterprise cultures.
Eastern Africa countries have weak enterprise cultures. For example, in Uganda, enterprises are one of the key
engines of growth (Balunywa, 2004). The country is however faced by high rate of business failure mainly due
to poor management. This affects the sustainability of enterprise culture. The country mainly relies on
necessity (basic) entrepreneurship, which may imply weak enterprise culture. Balunywa further raises the
concern for differences in success between the Asian and African business people and concludes that Asians
have low uncertainty avoidance among other reasons, which is high for Africans (Hofstede, 1980).
1.1.4 Entrepreneurship in Kenya
For rapid economic development, a “country requires a strategic approach to developing its entrepreneurs and
enterprises” (Mullei and Bokea, 1999). Entrepreneurial approach harnesses a tremendous amount of human
resource capabilities for faster economic growth. In Kenya the debate on enterprise culture development is old
and still ranging on. The emotion of Enterprise culture to produce a critical mass of creative and innovative
Kenyans capable of developing into a profile of entrepreneurs, especially among the youth (who are the
majority of the population), trainers and policy makers is attempted by many players where KIA plays a critical
role.
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