Entrepreneurial Mentorship and Business Education Students’ Development in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper is a descriptive study on the topic: Entrepreneurial mentoring for students’ development in Nigeria: Business education perspective. Entrepreneurship is a popular concept among management scholars in recent times. Its relevance is geared toward grooming young people to become well established entrepreneurs of the future, taking into cognizance the unemployable and under-employable nature of graduates in today’s economy. Thus mentoring students to develop into established entrepreneurs is imperatives especially in a nation like Nigeria. This paper explores approaches, needs and challenges of entrepreneurial mentoring in Nigeria. The main focus of the paper is on business education students, who are skilled in business development orientation. Business education as a course is built on management skill, marketing skills, office technology skills and accounting skills. It is also synthesizes the ideas of critical thinking, problem solving and technological savvy skills.  Thus, The paper recommends among others that entrepreneurial mentoring should be carried out and built through a formal and organized process. That best approaches and experience entrepreneurs(lecturers) should be employed when carrying out mentoring. Finally, that students’ potentials should be identify and developed through entrepreneurial education and mentoring. The paper concludes that entrepreneurial mentoring offers potentially transformative impact on career focus of students and establish basis for sustainable venture in post school life.

Keywords:Entrepreneurship, Mentoring, Entrepreneurial Mentoring, Students Development, Business Education

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-19-05

Publication date:July 31^st 2021