The two (2) modules of the AGEA training on Entrepreneurship Promotion and Education at African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) was successfully completed for the first batch of participants. The AGEA training sessions were held as follows: Module 1 (Developing Entrepreneurial Courses at HEIs) – 28 April and 05 May 2021; and Module 2 (Strategy Development for Entrepreneurship Centres at HEIs) – 26 May, 02 and 09 June 2021. Twenty-one (21) participants from 10 Universities in 6 countries took part in one or both training sessions facilitated by Dr. Gonzalves Nshimiyimana (Module 1) and Prof. Dr. Utz Dornberger (Module 2). At the end of the second Module training, participants were able to develop a strategy for an entrepreneurship centre initiative for their respective universities with the support and contributions from the trainers.
Due to the high number of registrations received – seventy-one (71) (about 21% female) registrations from 31 universities in 10 African countries (Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Benin, DR Congo, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda) – a second training course has been scheduled: Module 1 – 23, 30 June, and 5 July; Module 2 – 12, 19 and 26 July 2021.
Generally, participants of the first session were satisfied with the quality of the training content, the trainers, and the training methods used. They also indicated that the training provided valuable knowledge relevant to their work as university lecturers and trainers in Africa. In addition, the training also served as a learning opportunity on entrepreneurship promotion and entrepreneurial education concepts, especially for those without an entrepreneurship background. For instance, a participant with an engineering background remarked that “being in the STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] domain, I have learned a lot on entrepreneurship and acquired a lot of insights and great perspectives. Thank you for organising such an informative training.” Another participant intimated that “this training enabled and broadened my perspective towards entrepreneurship, [in terms of] how to formulate entrepreneurship centres vision, mission, objectives and resources required to establish entrepreneurship centre and how to initiate, promote new ideas at my university.”