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RELEVANCE

OF
ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Yinusa A. ADEDIRAN (FNSE, MIEEE)
Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering
University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
Email: yinusaade@yahoo.com

NSE Industrial Div. Intn'l Conf/AGM,


Lagos, 4-6 Oct. 2011

INTRODUCTION
Because of Globalisation:
Developed countries having a field day over
the developing countries both economically
and technologically
Nigeria becoming increasingly globalised
Industries are closing down due to:

high cost of production


ease with which finished products can be
imported rather than producing them locally
NSE Industrial Div. Intn'l

INTRODUCTION
This paper
has adduced lack of entrepreneurship
training in the curriculum of our tertiary
institutions as the main cause
suggests introduction engineering
entrepreneurship courses throughout the last
three or four semesters in the universities
and polytechnics
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DEFINITION
Entrepreneurship is (generally) the practice of
starting new organisations or reactivating mature
ones
in response to major identified opportunities.
Can range from
solo projects to
major undertakings
leading to creation of many job opportunities and
creation of new products and business
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DEFINITION
To engineering graduates, entrepreneurship
(specifically) is
the integration of
business management
with engineering/technical skills
leading to the formation of
engineer-entrepreneurs
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EXPECTATIONS FROM AN
ENTREPRENEUR
An entrepreneur should
be willing and able to convert a new idea or invention
into a success innovation,
be able to develop new markets of customers and
buyers,
discover new sources of materials,
mobilize capital resources (land, machines,
buildings, money, humans),
introduce new technologies, products and services.
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DUAL ROLE OF AN
ENGINEER-ENTREPRENEUR

technological professional
with entrepreneurial skills
He must be able to integrate
business management skills with
technical skills.
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Japans Statistics
Factories with less than 20 employees account
for
up to 87.3% of total number of factories,
20.1% of total workforce, and
12.6% of the total national output.
Also, the Indian economy has its greatness in the
proper attention paid to engineering
entrepreneurship
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ADVANTAGES OF
ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Self-employment, leading to job satisfaction, flexibility in


time and resource management;
Creation of job opportunities, the number depending on
the size of, and available resources to, the entrepreneur;
Healthy competition, leading to higher product quality;
Availability of more goods and services;
Development of more industries, particularly in rural
areas;
Development of entrepreneurial qualities and attitudes.
NSE Industrial Div. Intn'l

IMPERATIVE OF
ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN NIGERIA
Developed

countries are continually


searching for markets for their products
Developing countries are becoming dumping
ground for goods produced in other parts of
the world because they are neck-deep in
solving

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complex political crises and


socio-economic problems
NSE Industrial Div. Intn'l

IMPERATIVE OF
ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN NIGERIA

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Nigerian universities and polytechnics produce more


than 80.000 graduates yearly, less than 10% of
which are employed
A reasonable percentage not gainfully employed
because they are not found employable.
The industrial sector is operating at just about 33%
production capacity because of high cost of
production (from high energy cost, multiple taxation,
high import tariff on raw materials, corruption, etc.)
NSE Industrial Div. Intn'l

CHALLENGES TO
ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN NIGERIA
Poorly

Managed Pension Scheme


Poorly Operated Poverty Alleviation
Programmes (NAPEP, NDE, etc.)
Minimum Academic Standard of Higher
Institutions
Multiple Taxations
High Import Tariffs
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SOURCES OF FUNDING

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Personal savings
Loans from friends, relatives, relevant agencies/banks
Gratuity from retirement benefits
Security exchanges (e.g. buying/selling of shares and
bonds)
Profit plough-back
Trade credits
Hire purchase
Mortgages
Sale of securities
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QUALITIES OF AN
ENGINEER-ENTREPRENEUR

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Deal with uncertainty and ambiguity (risk taking);


Understand and speak the language of other
professionals, especially accountants, economists and
other social scientists);
Team player;
Convincing speaker and attentive listener;
Creative and inquisitive mind;
Adequate computer skills;
Understand economic and financial aspects of an
engineering effort;
Able to design sound business plan;
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QUALITIES OF AN
ENGINEER-ENTREPRENEUR

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Possess analytical and planning skills;


Work well in dynamic and rapidly changing environment;
Work under pressure and in short time frames;
Work effectively across multiple organizations, boards,
companies, and departments;
Work with specialists of different mentalities, origins, and
cultural backgrounds;
Be willing to learn and grasp new things (approaches, ideas);
Good manager of resources (money, materials, machines,
etc.);

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QUALITIES OF AN
ENGINEER-ENTREPRENEUR

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Good record keeping (of stocks, sales expenditures)


Understand market dynamics;
Good communication skills, both oral and written;
A psychologist;
People-oriented;
Have inquisitive mind;
Goal-oriented;
Good negotiating skills;
Understand state-of-the-art in related areas.
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TRAINING IN
ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Heartwarming

and a good beginning that


entrepreneurship courses have been
introduced into the curriculum of all tertiary
institutions
Growth of the enterprise depends on

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ability to start-off,
Ability to manage effectively and efficiently the
resources at his/her disposal,
creativity to make something different from others
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TRAINING IN
ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Some recommended courses:
Engineering Economics
Design of Business Plan
Leadership
Human Resources Management
Technological Entrepreneurship
Cost Control
Financial Accounting and Reporting

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TRAINING IN
ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Some recommended courses (contd)
Engineering Management
Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship
Financial Management
Production and Inventory Control
Maintenance Engineering
New Product Development
Marketing Management
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RECOMMENDATIONS
Major stakeholders in the development of
entrepreneurship culture are
the various levels of government,
the professional bodies, and
the entrepreneur himself/herself
each with different, but complementing, roles
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RECOMMENDATIONS
Local Government :
should provide the enabling environment that will
make it easy for the entrepreneur to set up and
operate
The entrepreneur should, for example,
have easy and cheap access to land, water,
electricity, etc.
not be stifled with unnecessary taxes and levies.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
State Government:
should encourage local governments to assist
interested entrepreneurs

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RECOMMENDATIONS
Federal Government
should set up a functional regulatory
framework to promote engineering
entrepreneurship
should harmonize all forms of taxes and
levies in order to prevent multiple taxations

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RECOMMENDATIONS
Professional Bodies (COREN and NSE):

should ensure that


adequate number of techno-entrepreneurship
courses is introduced into the curriculum of
polytechnics and universities;
continuing education courses/workshops are
mounted by the professional bodies at least
twice yearly.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
The Entrepreneur should
ensure that the enterprise is located as close
as possible to the source of local materials;
focus on the needs of the populace for
acceptability and marketability;
operate in such a way as to encourage
others to emulate him.
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CONCLUSION

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An engineer-entrepreneur is one who combines


his/her technical skills with business knowledge to
see opportunities and convert such to create jobs for
others
engineering curricula in higher institutions to be redesigned in such a way as to expose engineering
students to entrepreneurial skills through introduction
of business-related courses.
All stakeholders must play their role with the
commitment it deserves.
NSE Industrial Div. Intn'l

THANK YOU ALL


FOR YOUR ATTENTION

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