Abstract
Entrepreneurship appears to be a lucrative career in the post-COVID-19 era given the scaling down of big companies owing to the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although much has been said and written on the role of entrepreneurship in economic development and growth, scant is known about its role in economic recovery from crises. Therefore, this chapter aims to investigate how entrepreneurship education can act as a catalyst for economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era. It was observed that entrepreneurship plays a catalyst role in promoting economic recovery through producing enterprising graduates and promoting divergent thinking in solving wicked problems in the post-pandemic era. Nonetheless, it was also observed that the theoretical approach of teaching entrepreneurship was dominant at the expense of the practical approach due to limited resources. The outcomes of this study help practitioners and policymakers in making evidence-informed decisions.
TopBackground
The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has undeniably detrimental effects on business and has caused a serious global economic downturn leading to massive job losses (Dzingirai, Chagwesha, & Mudzurandende, 2021). In this respect, International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated that there is going to be a fall in employment income between $860 billion and $3.4 trillion and between 5 million and 25 million job losses and more than 70 million people are probably going to fall into extreme poverty as a result of the daunting COVID-19 outbreak (ILO, 2020; United Nations (UN), 2020). This sorry state of affairs emerging from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has marked the increase in the pursuit of entrepreneurship as a lucrative career. For decades, entrepreneurship education has been taught in higher education institutions. Notably, the current economic crisis accelerated by the emergence of the pandemic has witnessed the importance of entrepreneurship education since most people are being retrenched and fresh graduates are failing to secure jobs.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Economic Crisis: It is a drastic fall in the economic performance of the country which is manifested in a decline in production and demand, rising unemployment and bankruptcy of businesses. This will automatically lead to high poverty levels in the country.
Unemployment: It is a term normally used to describe people in a specific country who are actively looking for a decent job but are not securing a job.
Microenterprises: These are very small businesses that are very common in developing countries that employ five or fewer people as they are supported by microcredit.
Economic Recovery: It is a business cycle stage characterized by improved demand following a recession in business activity.
Entrepreneurship Education: It is the provision of skills, knowledge, and motivation to engage in successful business start-ups.
COVID-19 Pandemic: It is a newly emerged infectious disease caused by a coronavirus.
Entrepreneurship: It is the process of starting and running a new profitable business by taking risks.