Insights into an Action-Oriented Training Program to Promote Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Abstract

AbstractRecent research has highlighted the ability of entrepreneurs to create sustainable impact and bring about the change required for solving today’s social and environmental challenges. It has also been pointed out that existing entrepreneurship training programs need to be transformed to effectively promote individuals in tackling these challenges and contributing to sustainable development. To address this matter, I developed a training course on sustainable entrepreneurship that builds on an action-oriented entrepreneurship training program (Student Training for Entrepreneurial Promotion (STEP)), which has been shown to increase short- and long-term entrepreneurial actions among students in various contexts. I integrated sustainability as a crosscutting theme into the training program to empower individuals to identify sustainable business opportunities and manage the increasing complexity of sustainable ventures. Pilot studies in Uganda and South Africa show promising results, indicating that STEP Sustainability (STEP S) can increase students’ sustainability-oriented and entrepreneurial mindsets.