Entrepreneurship Education as a Strategic Approach to Economic Growth in Kenya.

Abstract

For the past 10 years, small enterprise development has been identified as a priority area in development policy in general, and in Africa in particular. There is now considerable experience among international donor agencies with interventions aimed at the development of the small enterprise sector. Increasingly, small enterprise development is regarded as crucial to the achievement of broader objectives such as poverty alleviation, economic development, and the emergence of more democratic and pluralistic societies. The trend in recent years has been to target a greater proportion of international aid resources to small enterprise development (Working Group on Business Development Services, 1997). International donor agencies such as the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and the African Development Bank have identified the small enterprise sector as a key to development in African countries and have financed a number of projects to encourage the section to grow. In addition, Sweden (SIDA), Germany (GTZ), Great Britain (ODA), and the United States (USAID) are supporting small enterprise development in African countries through their international aid programs. For example, the ODA's financial support of small enterprise development has increased in Africa from approximately $ .5 million in 1992-93 to $16.2 million in 1996-97. Within the United Nations system, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Industrial Development