To combat high unemployment rates in Africa, entrepreneurship is key in driving economic growth by supporting job creation and generating wealth. It is estimated that 22% of Africa’s workforce is engaged in entrepreneurial activities. African entrepreneurs have embraced innovation and creativity that has helped increase the development of successful and sustainable businesses.

Entrepreneurship education can help cultivate a culture of innovation, creativity, and problem-solving among students. To be successful in today’s competitive business environment, aspiring entrepreneurs need to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and skillset that encompasses critical thinking, problem solving, and innovation.

Future Perspectives through its Academy and Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre (DDQIC), Queen’s University hub for innovators and entrepreneurs have partnered to champion innovation by offering entrepreneurship programs for African youth by promoting economic self-sufficiency and reducing dependence on traditional employment. DDQIC aims to create a growing movement of inspirational entrepreneurs who are impactful on their peers and communities in a manner that can catalyze market and industry innovations.

In the Explore Entrepreneurship course, targeted for African entrepreneurs, learners will develop their entrepreneurial mindset by learning new strategies to develop and test new ideas that address a real need. Learners spend 60+ hours developing their own idea while completing training on fundamental topics of innovation and entrepreneurship, including Entrepreneurial Mindset, Systems Thinking, Design Thinking, Customer Discovery, Lean Development and MVPs, Pricing Strategies & Financial Viability, Business Model Canvas & Social Business Model Canvas, and Intellectual Property.

Learners will synthesize these concepts and apply them to creating a business model canvas that articulates the key considerations for their venture idea. These concepts can be applied in learners’ entrepreneurial endeavors, or to drive innovation within the organization in which they work.

Queen’s University was awarded the Entrepreneurial University award from the Deshpande Symposium in June 2021, a consortium of academics, policy planners and practitioners at the forefront of innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education. The university was ranked #1 in North America and #3 in the world in advancing the UN SDGs in the 2023 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings.