Tackling Unemployment Through Entrepreneurship Ecosystems In Higher Education
The Education Collaborative, an initiative started by Ashesi University in Ghana in partnership with The Mastercard Foundation, is one of the continent’s biggest platforms of higher education stakeholders. Since 2017, The Collaborative has led a new model for collaboration in African higher education that is helping grow the strength of the ecosystem, with an estimated 320,041 students having seen improved learning outcomes based on the collective work of the network.
Global unemployment has reached 6.5%, representing around 220 million people (UN Stats, 2021). While Sub-Saharan Africa’s unemployment rate stands at 6%, some countries within the region suffer from the highest unemployment rates globally. In particular, young people and women are disproportionately affected. For countries across Africa, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), restructuring their economies must be considered to address this issue.
Entrepreneurship and innovation are widely recognized as key drivers for long-term growth and competitive advantage. To drive economic growth and combat rising unemployment rates, many nations have adopted strategies that foster entrepreneurship and innovation, such as building sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems (SEEs). One of the sectors tasked with developing and advancing these SEEs is the higher education (HE) sector.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) play a pivotal role in training the global workforce and meeting human resource demands. However, they cannot do this in isolation. HEIs must engage and collaborate with government, industry, civil societies, and policymakers to create SSEs. Such ecosystems will empower institutions to support the entrepreneurial ambitions of students, staff, and communities while promoting sustainable economic development. Never has the need for creating SEEs within HEIs been more relevant.
Against this backdrop, the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development (EED) project was commissioned by The Education Collaborative at Ashesi University. This thought leadership initiative seeks to foster the creation of active Entrepreneurship Ecosystems (EEs) across HEIs in Sub-Saharan Africa. The project’s goal is to explore, share, and implement best practices for building entrepreneurship ecosystems within African higher education, drawing from successful examples across the continent. The resulting outputs will contribute to a formal framework for entrepreneurship education in Africa and be presented to regulators as part of governance discussions within the higher education sector. To date, the project has produced four key outputs:
- Defining, Describing and Diagnosing Entrepreneurship Ecosystems within Sub-Saharan Africa Higher Education Institutions
A comprehensive desk study that defines and outlines a framework for describing entrepreneurship ecosystems within higher education institutions in the Sub-Saharan region.
- Entrepreneurial Ecosystem building within Sub-Saharan Africa Higher Education Institutions
A series of case studies from exemplary institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, showcasing successful models and approaches adopted by six leading higher education institutions.
- Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Matrix
A preview of the framework designed to help institutions describe, design, and assess their entrepreneurship ecosystems, with key project metrics highlighted.
- Business Incubation Hub Guidebook
A step-by-step guidebook providing practical instructions for higher education institutions to establish or enhance business incubation hubs. This guidebook includes a toolkit offering tailored advice for building these hubs in diverse university settings.
- Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Diagnostic Tool
A tool designed specifically for higher education institutions to help them define, evaluate, and enhance their entrepreneurship ecosystem, providing the insights needed to achieve their entrepreneurial objectives.
The tool will be available by September 2025. All institutions interested in piloting the tool should contact [email protected]
To learn more about The Education Collaborative’s work in entrepreneurship development across Africa, click here or email [email protected].
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