From Interns to Entrepreneurs: The African Business Education Initiative’s Impact on Entrepreneurial Aspiration

Entrepreneurs play critical roles in driving economic growth, and recent evidence suggests that entrepreneurial skills can be developed through job training. Yet little is known about the conditions under which such training shapes entrepreneurial mindsets. This study examines how management and work environment factors influence entrepreneurial aspiration. We draw on a novel survey dataset collected from participants in the African Business Education Initiative—a program that aims to develop Africa’s industrial human resources. Our findings consistently demonstrate that task clarity, role-match, and mentorship positively influence entrepreneurial aspiration, whereas facing adaptability challenges has no meaningful effect. Jointly, task clarity and role-match exerted greater influence on entrepreneurial aspiration than either factor alone, highlighting their complementarity relationship. Furthermore, mentorship appeared to play a compensatory role by offsetting any potential negative effect of adaptability challenges on entrepreneurial aspiration. Further analysis showed that management factors played a larger role in promoting entrepreneurial aspirations than work environment factors. These findings suggest that a well-structured internship program that emphasizes clear responsibilities, role alignment, and strong mentorship can cultivate future entrepreneurial leaders who can foster entrepreneurship and drive innovation in Africa.