Entrepreneurship is a spirit as well as a role. It is about catalyzing change, innovation, risk taking and invention. The person who holds these qualities and traits and lives them out is an entrepreneur.
In Kenya today, entrepreneurship holds out the lifeline of getting ahead, of building an economic base and realizing our potential. Certain occurrences and trends around us e.g. mass lay-offs, hiring freezes etc. have occasioned the need for an alternative money making avenue besides formal employment. Faced with the need to make ends meet, the average Joe has little choice other than to explore entrepreneurship.Entrepreneurship, however, is a broad concept that should not be equated with staring a business. Entrepreneurs create needs and seek to satisfy them.
MFI’s play a leading role in supporting enterprise in Kenya. Their role in funding is central role to the growth of enterprise and has clear benefits to the individual and the economy.
Given their role in wealth generation, MFI’s are strategically placed to establish entrepreneurship by breeding entrepreneurs. We will highlight a few unique ways that they can do so.
First, MFI’s should encourage innovation since Innovation and entrepreneurship are closely connected.
In the MFI’s landscape, as in all organizations, there should be a deliberate effort to refresh, stimulate and inspire innovation within the organization and with their stakeholders as this is the building block of entrepreneurship. In addition, treating employees, volunteers and clients alike as customers creates an entrepreneurial culture within the organization and overtime this is transferred outside the organization.
Second, we can establish entrepreneurship by ensuring that the organization’s culture and operations encourage an entrepreneurial spirit. The culture should not be averse to the key elements in entrepreneurship e.g. innovation, risk taking and change.
In their hiring, MFI’s should seek out management and staff with creativity, vision and drive. MFI’s should hire employees who are innovative and enterprising. Such skill sets should be included in job descriptions and HR should build incentives to reward enterprise. This creativity and vision ensures that MFI’s are relevant in serving their entrepreneurial clients.
Third, key players within the community should identify the expertise needed to improve the outcomes of entrepreneurship by enlisting key players within the community, business and political arena who have that relevant expertise and are willing to share it.
Fourth, MFI’s should bolster their R&D arm and seek to design model programs and services that are replicable in more than one marketplace. Conducting regular reviews to determine the areas in need of improvement can achieve this.
Fifth, MFI’s should institute a process for continuous feedback with the community they serve. This two-way communication will uncover the real needs in society and as such benefit entrepreneurs.
Finally, a shift in thought and belief concerning entrepreneurship is necessary. A change in attitude should be encouraged through promoting entrepreneurship as a desirable career choice rather than as a necessity-driven entrepreneurial activity.
A Positive attitude toward entrepreneurship will generate cultural support, financial resources, networking benefits and other forms of assistance to current and potential entrepreneurs.
When this is in place, we will come ahead of countries with better-known reputations for enterprise.
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