Approaches to Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education in South Sudan

Kevin McKague, MBA, PhDAdjunct Faculty, Schulich School of Business, York University

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

Academy of Management, OrlandoAugust 9, 2013

The Case of South Sudan• South Sudan is the world’s newest country

• 83% of the population lives in rural areas and subsists on agriculture-based incomes of under $1/day

• Emerging from decades of civil war the country simultaneously faces great challenges, but also presents an overwhelming number of opportunities

• McKinsey estimates that 90% of food consumed in the capital city Juba is imported from neighbouring Uganda or Kenya, despite the country having some of the most fertile farmland in Africa in the White Nile river basin

In Sub-Saharan Africa generally…

Agriculture accounts for:• almost half of Sub-Saharan Africa's GDP • the livelihoods of 80% of the population

The World Bank estimates that if African agriculture was optimized it could become a $1 trillion industry (IFC, 2013)

However, farmers face numerous market and government failures that keep them from reaching their productive potential including: access to knowledge, information, technology, markets, finance and ways to reduce risk

Therefore

When developing approaches to entrepreneurial education and sustainable entrepreneurship:• Context matters• Entrepreneurial ecosystem matters

South Sudan: Agricultural Entrepreneurship

The history of economic development shows that few countries have achieved sustained economic growth and poverty alleviation without first, or simultaneously, developing their agricultural sector.

(Birkhaeuser, Evenson and Feder, 1991)

 “Agriculture is not a development activity, it is a business.”- Akinwumi Adesina, Minister of Agriculture, Nigeria

“Poor farmers are not a problem to be solved; they are the best answer for a world that is fighting hunger and poverty, and trying to feed a growing population”- Bill Gates, Co-Chair, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Agricultural Enterprise Ecosystem

Entrepreneurship Education• Training, capacity building, mentoring, networks

Finance• For all sizes of enterprise at all stages of

development

Access to Markets• Connections to market demand and growth

opportunities

Requires investment in three fundamental areas:

Entrepreneurship Education for Building the Agricultural Enterprise Ecosystem in South Sudan

1. Entrepreneur Mentoring and Networking Entrepreneurship Education Network– Creating a South Sudan Entrepreneurship Development

(SSED) Network– Incl. IFC, South Sudan Chamber of Commerce, Spark

South Sudan, Universities, local training organizations

Entrepreneurship Education for Building the Agricultural Enterprise Ecosystem in South Sudan

2. University-Level Entrepreneurship Education– University of Juba Chair in Entrepreneurship– PhD training in Entrepreneurship for faculty– Entrepreneurship courses and research– Scholarships and bursaries

Entrepreneurship Education for Building the Agricultural Enterprise Ecosystem in South Sudan

3. School-Level Entrepreneurship Education– Entrepreneurship training modules developed for:– Farmer field schools, primary and secondary school,

agricultural colleges

Approaches to Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education in

South Sudan

Kevin McKague, MBA, PhDAdjunct Faculty, Schulich School of Business, York University

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

Academy of Management, OrlandoAugust 9, 2013