Educating for an Entrepreneurial Career: Developing Opportunity- Recognition Ability

Entrepreneurship as a career option has become increasingly desirable, and there is a real need to develop an opportunity-oriented entrepreneurial mindset among tertiary students. Current entrepreneurship education heavily relies on the linear process of business planning and rarely encourages the complex and non-linear thinking patterns necessary for entrepreneurial careers. Based on a theory-driven understanding of the nature of opportunity recognition, we propose a two-pronged approach combining classroom exercises with experiential exercises to enhance opportunity-recognition ability. Our model is not limited to new business creation, and it lends itself easily to self-managed, opportunity-driven, entrepreneurial approaches to careers. Links between entrepreneurship and self-managed careers are discussed.