Mentorship and the Entrepreneurial spirit
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Someone once said that the apprenticeship scheme has produced more millionaires than the university system or education in Nigeria. To borrow a leaf from this statement of fact the mentorship scheme has produced more successful entrepreneurs than our universities. This is because the university curriculum as it were lacks the rich entrepreneurial content in it. Except for a few new generation universities mostly privately owned have included some entrepreneurial courses into their curriculum.
Consequently, the universities are busy churning out job hunters whose employability is in doubt and bloating the already saturated unemployment community. In fact, these products of our University system must first be mentored to meet the requirements of the workforce. On the other hand, the mentorship scheme has produced successful entrepreneurs and job creators who have been able to absorb as many as they can. This situation is well captured in the words of Socrates;
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Education at its best should kindle the fire of entrepreneurship. In other words, education should prepare us to make a change and not make us readily adapt to change. It should empower people to be creative and not the other way round. It should encourage the enterprising spirit. Rather what we have today is an education that fills us with all manner of garbage to pigeonhole us to a particular inclination. It is an education that suppresses our freedom to explore and unleash our creative talents. Also, it is an education that quenches the fire of entrepreneurship and enterprising spirits. It is tailored to fill us with this wrong mentality of studying to work instead of studying to create. This mentality is inimical to the entrepreneurial spirit.
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Without mincing words, if you want to unlock this entrepreneurial spirit and experience massive success you need a mentor. In one of my posts, ‘unleash your talents’ I did say that for you to unleash your talents and succeed you need a mentor. Your mentor is someone who is ready to help you go beyond your limits. And I did say that the elastic band when it is pressured or overstretched does not return to its original state. Likewise, you can never remain the same under the tutelage of a mentor. Your mentor will help to guide you to break new grounds and frontiers.
My writing skill was developed because I was able to go beyond my limits courtesy of my project supervisor. Each time I go to him for supervision he would ask me to write more, elaborate on my points, and expand my work. Then I would go back to research more and increase the write-up. My ability to write was overstretched and I later came up with a finer work that fetched me a nice grade. But today I have so much developed my writing skills and I can write with so much ease.
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Hence, for you to receive the much-needed push that will help you go beyond your limits you need mentoring. You need the advice and wealth of experience of a mentor to guide you into the mainstream of the entrepreneurial spirit. Through the advice and guidance of your mentor, you will be able to discover, develop, and unleash your entrepreneurial skills. You must tap into his wealth of experience if you hope to discover your own entrepreneurial qualities. Back then in school, my project supervisor was my mentor who helped me discover, develop, and unleashed my writing skills. But your question might be, how do I choose my mentor?
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