Nurturing entrepreneurial mindsets at school

Teachers' Voices

What is an entrepreneurial mindset? Why should educators nurture entrepreneurial mindsets in young people? What entrepreneurial projects have teachers developed in classrooms around the world?

In this episode, Nina first speaks to Maud Seghers. Maud is a global education advisor at VVOB in Belgium, an international organisation devoted to education development. An entrepreneurial mindset is not just about starting and managing projects, programs, and businesses that generate wealth, Maud says, as a lot of entrepreneurs and young people also want to “maximise benefits to society and the environment”.

Next, Nina meets Larisa Akrofie in Ghana. Larisa is Lead of Skills and Education at the Mastercard Foundation and believes that building entrepreneurial attitudes in the growing young population in Africa is really important. “High rates of entrepreneurial skills will go a long way to empower young people to create their own opportunities and contribute to the diversification of economies and address social challenges”, Larisa says.

Nina then speaks to Alison Yang, an international school teacher in Hong Kong who specialises in entrepreneurship. Alison explains that students often acquire skills and knowledge but don’t necessarily know how to apply them outside the classroom. “That's why we have the entrepreneur project”, she explains, to explicitly show students how to apply their “knowledge and interest to create something that's useful”.

Finally, Nina hears from Barbara Bilgre, a marine biologist and science teacher in India. Barbara believes that “if you're going to be setting up a business, you should have in mind a purpose for social improvements and social justice”. Barbara tells Nina about the benefits of connecting schools with social entrepreneurs who are working to improve the environment.

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Guests and resources

Maud Seghers - LinkedIn
VVOB - website, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Facebook

Larisa Akrofie - LinkedIn, Twitter/X
Plugging African Youth - WhatsApp Channel

Alison Yang - LinkedIn, website
IB Middle Years Programme - Twitter/X

Barbara Bilgre - LinkedIn

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