Let’s Go Foundation and GE Money Bank recently presented the results of the study on entrepreneurship conducted among students from the four women colleges that comprise the Consortium of Women Colleges namely: Assumption College, St. Scholastica’s College, College of the Holy Spirit and Miriam College.

According to the results, majority of the students (88 percent) intend to start their own business in the future. However, limited knowledge, understanding and experience pose serious obstacles. 78 percent of the students surveyed have not been exposed to formal business management or entrepreneurship courses. Their understanding for business seems to be limited only to selling, which they experienced when they were growing up. 90 percent of the respondents answered that they would like to learn more about entrepreneurship and how to start their own business. Clearly, there is a gap in terms of the desire to put up a business with the knowledge and skill needed in order to accomplish this task. This gap shows the strong need to educate students on entrepreneurship.

Also expressed in the survey is the fact that 64 percent of the students prefer to be employed in a private corporation or a non-profit organization after they graduate, while only 31.75 percent thought of owning a business or being self-employed. These results show the continued focus of society towards pursuing employment rather than creating it after college.

The survey further revealed that the students are mostly influenced by their families to start a business; teachers only garnered a response of 5, which shows that schools have always followed the path of developing employees rather than entrepreneurs.

Another insight that can be drawn from the survey is that teaching materials should no longer be limited to the conventional traditional methods. With the advent of an increasingly more technological world, alternative methodologies such as simulations, online learning and more should be adopted. When asked about the different models of learning, only 28 percent of the respondents said they would like to learn through instruction (lectures and case studies) while 50 percent said they would like to learn through the use of technology (online courses and computer games).

The survey was conducted as a part of the Women Entrepreneurship (WE) program for college students initiated by Let’s Go Foundation and GE Money Bank last year. The program aims to identify the interests and needs of the students, as well as gain insights that can enhance the program. The WE program also aims to encourage school programs to expose students to the needed entrepreneurship knowledge, skills and experience that will allow them to pursue and develop their interest in starting a business. This survey, which reveals the level of interest students show towards entrepreneurship and the current state of business-related education they are getting, strengthens GE Money Bank’s cause in engaging in the program.

A total of 126 students were surveyed for this study. Two-thirds of the total sample comprised of students taking up business courses and the rest were made up of students taking up non-business courses.

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