The Implications Of Increasing Operations Management Content In Entrepreneurship Training In Africa

Entrepreneurship is promoted as an effective strategy for job creation and poverty reduction in developing nations. In Africa, it is projected that nearly 370 million young men and women will enter the job market by 2030 which far exceeds the expected number of job openings. Stimulating entrepreneurship is recommended as a viable strategy not only to help create self-employment opportunities for this burgeoning youth population but also to enable nascent start-ups to grow into viable small and medium-size enterprises. While entrepreneurship research has significantly increased during the last decade, most of these studies have focused on industrialized and economically advanced nations. Or even the findings of many studies based on the realities of developed nations may not be applicable in developing countries. Research based on the socio-cultural, economic and political environment of developing countries is still rare, and those based on Africa are even more so. This study examines the benefits of incorporating basic elements of operations management in entrepreneurship training programs including appropriate process design to enable efficient goods production and service delivery; process mapping and periodic process flow analysis to increase throughput efficiency; demand forecasting to facilitate production planning; effective management of the supply chain; using the principles of lean philosophy to minimize waste; and implementing the principles of continuous improvement to stay competitive. The study posits that equipping current and aspiring entrepreneurs in Africa and other developing markets with the basics of operations management will help them utilize their scarce resources more efficiently, promote their customer orientation, and improve their chances of survival and success.