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The library of essays of Proakatemia

Sustainable entrepreneurship



Kirjoittanut: Marcos Homar Heinonen - tiimistä SYNTRE.

Esseen tyyppi: Yksilöessee / 2 esseepistettä.
Esseen arvioitu lukuaika on 3 minuuttia.

When talking about sustainable entrepreneurship the first thing that comes into my mind is making ecologically correct decisions in business life. I realized this is a superficial definition after having a paja regarding this topic. Sustainability as the word itself means something that you can sustain. This can be achieved by making the changes towards a more sustainable life with small but significant changes instead of drastic changes that cause more anxiety than change. When referring to sustainable entrepreneurship, the focus is more on the environmental effects and not only the profitability. Being sustainable requires us to change the business industry to a point where natural resources can sustain themselves. For example, after cutting one tree, another is planted.

 

Education is everything

Education is the most important factor for a more sustainable future. If people are not being educated to know what sustainability is, we can´t expect to have a solution either. Education exports from first-world countries to developing countries are a key factor in achieving a sustainable future for us all. The educational problem is not only a problem that exists in developing countries but also in first-world countries. In school, there are history classes but no future classes. Future classes would educate about the current world with an eye on the future to prevent irreversible things from happening. Teaching about pollution, Greenhouse gas emissions, overpopulation, and many more. History is important to truly understand where we are now. But now more than ever we should be worried about our future and keeping the world in a habitable state for future generations.

 

This article shows that there have been studies that have shown that a growing number of universities are embracing that sustainability can and should be a part of the university support system for entrepreneurship. This means that sustainability should be taught in an entrepreneurial mindset according to the universities mentioned in the article from the US and Germany. This study has shown that higher education should teach sustainable entrepreneurship to prepare the mindset of future “green entrepreneurs”. However, there are hardly any insights about how to create an adequate university system or what elements impact the emergence and implementation of a university support system for sustainable entrepreneurship.

 

“Don’t give fish to the poor but teach them how to fish”

Sustainable entrepreneurship has gained interest because of its possible impact on the futures market. The idea of it not being only focused on gaining the most money possible has also other benefits in supporting sustainability. When talking about sustainability we must talk about human labor. Human labor provides most of our goods all over the world and because of that is a significant part of the economy. A product itself may be manufactured in an ecological way, but if the person making it is living under inhuman conditions the product is not sustainable. Going back to education and its benefits we can see the correlation between human equality and education. Usually, countries with no education possibilities at all have the problem of overexploitation in human labor. Education is a human right. It is a powerful instrument to reduce poverty and improve health, gender equality, peace, and stability. Education also delivers large, consistent returns in terms of income, and is a huge factor to ensure the quality of opportunities. When talking globally there is a 10% increase in hourly earnings for every extra year of schooling. Education provides long-term economic growth. Developing countries have made significant progress toward having more children in schools and getting an education. The concern is if the kids are learning or not as the learning is not guaranteed. Making smart and effective investments in people’s education is the key to getting people out of extreme poverty.

 

Conclusion:

Education is the base for everything and that is why I mainly ended up focusing on the education part of sustainable entrepreneurship. Every one of us should have the same right for living a sustainable life and being able to contribute to a more sustainable world. This is still not the case as most people in this world live in inhumane conditions where the biggest challenge is to survive from starvation. One of the best and most viable ways to deal with most of the world’s problems is education. And that is why the emphasis should be on exporting education from first-world countries to developing ones. The problem is at the political level in many developing countries where economic inequality benefits the rich and therefore change is not seen as necessary.

 

 

 

Sources:

(Estimating The return of schooling using the Mincer equation, IZA World of Labor, Read 04.05.2022)

https://wol.iza.org/articles/estimating-return-to-schooling-using-mincer-equation

 

(Factors influencing university support for sustainable entrepreneurship: insights from explorative case studies, ScienceDirect, 2018)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S095965261732961X

 

(How to be a sustainable entrepreneur, EntrepreneurshipTV, 2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBCxg-MeLI0

 

(Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Review of its evolution and new trends, ScienceDirect, 2020)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652619346128

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