Nurturing start-up seeds: exploring the fertile ground of entrepreneurial curriculum in Nigerian universities
Joy Eghonghon Akahome, Obi Fidelis NnadiPurpose
This study aims to examine how entrepreneurial curricula in Nigerian universities develop human capital for sustainable start-up creation among youth. It explores how knowledge, skills and entrepreneurial mindsets are formed through university-based entrepreneurship education and how these translate (or fail to translate) into start-up readiness within a resource-constrained environment.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case study design was adopted within an interpretivist paradigm. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 24 undergraduate students from two Nigerian universities. Participants were selected using purposive and maximum variation sampling. Thematic analysis was conducted using Braun and Clarke’s six-step approach, supported by both deductive coding guided by human capital theory (HCT) (Becker, 1964) and inductive codes emerging from the data.
Findings
The findings reveal that entrepreneurial education in Nigerian universities primarily builds strong cognitive understanding of entrepreneurship and moderate business planning skills. However, experiential learning remains limited and uneven, resulting in a gap between theoretical knowledge and practical entrepreneurial competence. While students demonstrate increased creativity, opportunity recognition and improved entrepreneurial mindset, their readiness to start businesses is largely conditional on external factors such as funding, mentorship and institutional support. This study identifies a persistent “conversion interruption” between entrepreneurial knowledge acquisition and real-world venture creation, highlighting structural and contextual constraints that limit the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education.
Originality/value
This study extends HCT by introducing the interrupted human capital conversion model, which explains entrepreneurial education outcomes as a multi-stage but non-linear process disrupted by structural and ecosystem constraints. It contributes a new conceptual lens for understanding why entrepreneurial education does not consistently translate into start-up creation in emerging economies. This study also provides context-specific insights from Nigeria, offering implications for curriculum reform, experiential learning enhancement and entrepreneurship policy development aimed at strengthening sustainable youth entrepreneurship.