In today’s globalised economy, the role of institutions of higher education extend greatly to preparing leaders, being at the forefront of technology, innovation, social and economical change. Higher education must empower and enable students to compete in a highly competitive and interconnected world through supporting student entrepreneurship and innovation as drivers of new ideas, businesses and economic growth. Resources, both in the shape of knowledge and financial seed money should be available for deserving students to support their ideas and businesses in the form of start-ups.

Selected talented students may be financially supported by the universities’ student endowment fund or matched funds from businesses/investors to get a great start point for their own start-ups. In addition to financial support, a student business start-up centre can offer a variety of services including advice, guidance and training on preparing business plans, networking opportunities, and resources for connecting interested businesses/investors with students.

From student to billionairePakistani-born billionaire Shahid Khan hit headlines recently by buying the Jacksonville Jaguars team of the National Football League for $760 million. While earning an engineering degree, Khan who came to the US in 1967 when he was 16, worked at auto parts manufacturer Flex-N-Gates. In 1978 he left the company to found his own company with loaned money, Bumper Works, and created a new one-piece car bumper design that became the industry standard.

Only two years later, Khan bought his former employer and merged operations with current revenues in more than $3 billion a year. His success story from a student with limited financial support to becoming a world billionaire mirrors many other today’s young entrepreneurs. Internships, practical training, early exposure to the business world, talent and seed money to support business initiatives are some of the prerequisites of the young billionaires of the digital age.

Not all student-entrepreneurs are going to become the next Mark Zuckerberg the famous founder of Facebook the giant social media website, Bill Gates the head of Microsoft, or Shahid Khan, the instant or even some-years-in-the-making billionaires. But there is a serious lack of any platform for success or support for student entrepreneurs in Pakistan.

Although courses in entrepreneurship are offered to selective students such as those enrolled in business or hotel administration degrees, there is little support offered to other students. Innovation and talent that spurs successful start-up businesses can come from any student, irrespective of their academic interest/choice.

Current studies conducted to measure student entrepreneurial initiative in Pakistan emphasise that knowledge and early exposure to business are key factors for motivation (Determinants of Students’ Entrepreneurial Career Intentions: Evidence from Business Graduates — European Journal of Social Sciences — Vol 15, No 2 [2010]). Thus, higher education institutions must realise the need to upgrade their curricula and start delivering training that is utilitarian, practical and relevant to the current needs of the modern economy.

Internships, training and promoting student start-up businesses must become standard practices in universities. Any competitive higher education institution promising quality education must establish a student start-up business centre to promote and support student entrepreneurship. While some students may have business initiatives or experience, many are not exposed to the world of business and lack the knowledge and/or financial means to materialise their ideas and make them marketable or profitable. The start-up centre may become the missing link between students’ academic education and real life experience. Students can benefit immensely by doing research, bringing new ideas and taking calculated risks to bring to life businesses that otherwise would not be possible.

Lifelong educationA student start-up business centre at a higher educational institution may create the necessary bridges to connect the innovative ideas of students’ start-up initiatives with businesses or investors that can support them financially, linking together interests and ideas that would otherwise not happen.

Entrepreneurial skills learned through these student experiences can be easily translated to daily life. The experience may help students develop effective work habits, personal management talents, and critical thinking skills, abilities that help an individual become a valuable asset to their community regardless of their chosen enterprise. Supporting and encouraging small businesses, even if it is a new food mart or technology oriented is essential to a successful local economy.

Young student entrepreneurs are ideally positioned to identify local needs and gaps on the economy and address them with a successful start-up business. But they need guidance, nurturing, seed money and business skills such as teamwork and communication along with other proficiencies.

In Pakistan, higher education institutions can offer a great opportunity to alleviate poverty and bring economic prosperity by encouraging and supporting student entrepreneurship. While young entrepreneurs are establishing successful businesses in the developed world, the developing countries need to tap into their resources and support the brightest of them. By establishing student start-up business centres, universities can promote talented students business ideas, enhance their practical learning experience and ultimately serve their role as delivering leaders of the future.

The writers work for the Promotion of Education in Pakistan Foundation, Inc., USA.info@pepfoundation.org