Creating conducive environments for learning and entrepreneurship

The paper argues that there is a need to move away from the conventional focus of entrepreneurship education on new venture management, business plans and growth and innovation, to a broader concept based on an understanding of the way entrepreneurs live and learn. Seven challenges are proposed in this respect: (1) that of creating the ‘way of life’ of the entrepreneur; (2) the sharing of culture and values; (3) supporting the development of behaviours, attributes and skills; (4) designing the entrepreneurial organization; (5) developing the learning-to-learn capacity; (6) being sensitive to the demands of different contexts; and (7) adding value to existing ways of learning. The paper concludes that meeting these challenges cannot easily be achieved within the existing structure, values and beliefs of business schools and that new organizations are needed within a university context.