If it creates a new mindset in young people, the National Secondary Schools’ Entrepreneurship Competition (NSSEC) will transform Trinidad and Tobago.
At the competition’s closing ceremony on Monday, President Christine Kangaloo told the students, “Understanding, honing and perfecting this entrepreneurial mindset will set you apart and help shape not just your future, but also, the future of this nation.”
With forex woes engaging citizens, the event was timely. As the country’s oil and gas revenues inexorably decline in coming decades, T&T will need a critical mass of entrepreneurs to generate new sources of revenue. But that can only happen if a cultural shift starts today. This requires initiatives that go beyond one school programme held once a year. Instead, entrepreneurship must be integrated into the school curriculum.
In the United States, which is the world’s most entrepreneurial society, American schoolchildren learn about historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. In Singapore, entrepreneurialism is part of their school curriculum, with prizes for children who come up with the best ideas. By contrast, T&T students might never even hear about Edward Lee Lum, who financed the country’s first oil well, until they go to university (and probably not even then). Business names from the early 20th century that still exist today—Massy, Agostini, Matouk, Sabga—are not part of any syllabus. Few books record these founding figures.
Worse than that, T&T schools teach conformity and set answers, when entrepreneurship requires rule-breaking and innovation. As President Kangaloo correctly noted, “Many of the jobs and careers we take for granted today will not exist in the same format tomorrow—if indeed they exist at all. The skills that will be in demand tomorrow are likely to be different from those that are being taught in traditional classrooms today.”
Changing that culture will be slow, and T&T needs more entrepreneurs yesterday. The Government can, however, immediately introduce policies that encourage entrepreneurship. It is true that every administration already claims to be doing so, but financing individuals for run-of-the-mill ventures does not an entrepreneur make. Entrepreneurs are by definition persons who take risks in hope of reward. Only a government bureaucrat would institute a policy that completely removes risk and boast they are creating entrepreneurs.
Contrast this with the funding approach taken by the governments of Singapore and Israel. Both countries have public venture capital funds, which are designed to bring in private venture capital. The private sector thus drives the process. The US has the highest ratio of venture capitalists in the world, with 50 times as many angel investors as Europe, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. This is facilitated by a system that does not punish bankruptcy and a tax regime that lets the wealthy invest their money.
Trinidad and Tobago can apply similar policies adapted to our situation. The Government’s main role is to remove barriers, not choose entrepreneurs. By cutting the red tape that hampers business activity, both local and foreign entrepreneurs will hopefully be encouraged to institute start-ups here.
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