Integrating Business Courses Mentorship Programs and Investment to Enhance Entrepreneurial Opportunities
Article Sidebar
-
Business Opportunity Recognition, Entrepreneurship Courses, Mentoring Program, Investment, Higher Education
Abstract
Much research highlights the role of business incubators in fostering student entrepreneurship, but the impact of business courses and mentoring programs on recognizing business opportunities remains underexplored. This study investigates how entrepreneurship education, mentorship, and investment enhance students ability to identify and create business opportunities, particularly in uncertain times. Data were collected from 205 third-year university students with experience in incubator and mentoring programs conducted by universities or external organizations. A quantitative approach was employed, utilizing SMART-PLS tools to analyze correlations between entrepreneurship education, mentorship, investment, and opportunity recognition. Results show investment and mentoring have the strongest correlation, highlighting the importance of financial and non-financial support for entrepreneurial success. The findings emphasize the significance of a well-designed curriculum in fostering business opportunity recognition, with mentoring programs mediating the relationship between educational and financial support. Integrating education, mentorship, and investment significantly influences student ventures by fostering entrepreneurial intentions and providing critical resources. Collaboration among educational institutions, policymakers, and investors is vital to establish comprehensive support systems that prepare future entrepreneurs to succeed in dynamic markets.
Full text article
References
GEM, “Global entrepreneurship monitor 2021/2022 global report: Opportunity amid disruption,” 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.gemconsortium.org/reports/latest-global-report
M. Pereyra, D. Aboal, and F. Rovira, “How effective are training and mentorship programs for entrepreneurs at promoting entrepreneurial activity? an impact evaluation,” SN Business & Economics, vol. 1, no. 1, p. 97, 2021.
A. Florek-Paszkowska, A. Ujwary-Gil, and B. Godlewska-Dziobo´n, “Business innovation and critical success factors in the era of digital transformation and turbulent times,” Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, vol. 17, no. 4, p. Article 4, 2021.
S. Lein, “The role of mentorship in entrepreneurship education: Building bridges between classroom and industry,” Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, vol. 27, no. Special Issue 6, pp. 1–15, 2024.
X. Weng, T. K. F. Chiu, and C. C. Tsang, “Promoting student creativity and entrepreneurship through real-world problem-based maker education,” Thinking Skills and Creativity, vol. 45, p. 101046, 2022.
E. M. Swartz, C. B. Scheepers, and T. Toefy, “Women entrepreneurs’ opportunity identification of digital platform start-ups: Emerging evidence from south africa,” International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 352–374, 2022.
S. Nate, V. Grecu, A. Stavytskyy, and G. Kharlamova, “Fostering entrepreneurial ecosystems through the stimulation and mentorship of new entrepreneurs,” Sustainability, vol. 14, no. 13, p. 7985, 2022.
P. R. KN and S. Yogananthan, “Building resilient startups: The role of mentorship in entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Cuestiones de Fisioterapia, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 5166–5172, 2025.
W. Jiatong, M. Murad, F. Bajun, M. S. Tufail, F. Mirza, and M. Rafiq, “Impact of entrepreneurial education, mindset, and creativity on entrepreneurial intention: Mediating role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy,” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, 2021.
D. R. E. Ewim, “Integrating business principles in stem education: fostering entrepreneurship in students and educators in the us and nigeria,” IJEBD (International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Business Development), vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 590–605, 2023.
U. Rahardja, V. T. Devana, N. P. L. Santoso, F. P. Oganda, and M. Hardini, “Cybersecurity for fintech on renewable energy from acd countries,” in 2022 10th International Conference on Cyber and IT Service Management (CITSM). IEEE, 2022, pp. 1–6.
O. Ngalesoni, G. Mwakifwamba, and H. Pandisha, “The effectiveness of mentoring programs on empowering women entrepreneurs in tanzania: A case of babati district council,” International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Project Management, vol. 9, no. 2, p. Article 2, 2024.
D. C. Lantu, Y. Suharto, I. Fachira, A. Permatasari, and G. Anggadwita, “Experiential learning model: improving entrepreneurial values through internship program at start-ups,” Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 107–125, 2022.
G. H¨agg and A. Kurczewska, Entrepreneurship education: Scholarly progress and future challenges. Taylor & Francis, 2022.
M. Filser, V. Tiberius, S. Kraus, T. Zeitlhofer, N. Kailer, and A. M¨uller, “Opportunity recognition: Conversational foundations and pathways ahead,” Entrepreneurship Research Journal, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1–30, 2023.
H. Daka, “Strategies for enhancing mentorship of in entrepreneurship: a case study of undergraduate students of kwame nkrumah university kabwe, zambia.” 2021.
A. Bauman and C. Lucy, “Enhancing entrepreneurial education: Developing competencies for success,” The International Journal of Management Education, vol. 19, no. 1, p. 100293, 2021.
H. Fidlerov´a, A. Stareˇcek, N. Vraˇnakov´a, C. Bulut, and M. Keaney, “Sustainable entrepreneurship for business opportunity recognition: analysis of an awareness questionnaire among organisations,” Energies, vol. 15, no. 3, p. 849, 2022.
T. Alkhalaf, O. Durrah, D. Almohammad, and F. Ahmed, “Can entrepreneurial knowledge boost the entrepreneurial intent of french students? the mediation role of behavioral antecedents,” Management Research Review, vol. 45, no. 12, pp. 1545–1571, 2022.
N. B. Gcabashe, “Empowering teachers: Enhancing business studies teachers’ technology integration skills through technology peer mentoring,” Interdisciplinary Journal of Education Research, vol. 6, pp. 1–12, 2024.
Q. Mu and Y. Zhao, “Transforming entrepreneurship education in the age of artificial intelligence,” Resources Data Journal, vol. 3, pp. 2–20, 2024.
J. Porf´ırio, T. Carrilho, J. Jardim, and V. Wittberg, “Fostering entrepreneurship intentions: the role of entrepreneurship education,” Journal of Small Business Strategy, vol. 32, pp. 1–10, 2022.
B. A. Soomro and N. Shah, “Entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, need for achievement and entrepreneurial intention among commerce students in pakistan,” Education+ Training, vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 107–125, 2022.
C. Wall-Andrews, “Typology of entrepreneurship training for art students: implications for arts entrepreneurship education,” in Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy–2023. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022, pp. 77–95.
M. Almansour, “Business incubators and entrepreneurial training: Leveraging technological innovations and digital marketing,” IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 2022.
C. Wang, N. Mundorf, and A. Salzarulo-McGuigan, “Entrepreneurship education enhances entrepreneurial creativity: The mediating role of entrepreneurial inspiration,” The International Journal of Management Education, vol. 20, no. 2, p. 100570, 2022.
P. Aithal and S. Aithal, “Super innovation in higher education by nurturing business leaders through incubationship,” International Journal of Applied Engineering and Management Letters (IJAEML), vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 142–167, 2023.
D. F. Kuratko, E. Neubert, and M. R. Marvel, “Insights on the mentorship and coachability of entrepreneurs,” Business Horizons, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 199–209, 2021.
I. Sembiring, D. Manongga, U. Rahardja, and Q. Aini, “Understanding data-driven analytic decision making on air quality monitoring an empirical study,” Aptisi Transactions on Technopreneurship (ATT), vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 418–431, 2024.
J. Lichy, Y. Zhai, and W. Ang’awa, “Using business model tools in entrepreneurial start-ups: insights and inconsistencies,” Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, pp. 1–33, 2024.
M. Kayyali, “Promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in higher education.” Online Submission, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1–26, 2023.
M. Ardiansyah, L.-P. Dana, and V. Raten, “Involvement international journal of business,” 2024.
F. Mustafa, D. O. Suparwata et al., “The role of business incubators in enhancing human resource competence and encouraging entrepreneurship among young people,” Jurnal Terobosan Peduli Masyarakat (TIRAKAT), vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 147–160, 2024.
B. Witjaksana, A. Purwanti, T. Fathoni, and D. D. Dewi, “Increasiation economic management literacy for the community through the independent entrepreneurship program,” Community Development Journal: Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 6207–6215, 2024.
S. Untari and Y. Suharto, “The development of youth and woman entrepreneurship program in village tourism through partnership,” Geojournal of Tourism and Geosites, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 1538–1544, 2021.
M. Rosienkiewicz, J. Helman, M. Cholewa, M. Molasy, A. G´orecka, D. Kohen-Vacs, M. Winokur, S. Amador Nelke, A. Levi, J. F. G´omez-Gonz´alez et al., “Enhancing technology-focused entrepreneurship in higher education institutions ecosystem: Implementing innovation models in international projects,” Education Sciences, vol. 14, no. 7, p. 797, 2024.
A. Ioannou and S. Retalis, “Building entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the edtech sector: the impact of an entrepreneurship education program,” The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 2025.
O. Odeyemi1, A. T. Oyewole, O. B. Adeoye, O. C. Ofodile, W. A. Addy, C. C. Okoye, and Y. J. Ololade, “Entrepreneurship in africa: a review of growth and challenges,” 2024.
M. I. Al-Housani, M. S. Al-Sada, and M. Koc¸, “Innovation ecosystem for resource-rich countries: Validation of entrepreneurship framework for qatar as a case,” Sustainability, vol. 16, no. 7, p. 2940, 2024.
A. Iherobiem, M. E. Ariyibi, and O. Shokoya, “Entrepreneurial orientation and performance of business enterprises,” Izvestiya. Journal of Varna University of Economics, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 298–311, 2023.
Kemenparekraf, “Statistik pariwisata dan ekonomi kreatif 2020,” 2021.
M. Sarstedt, C. M. Ringle, and J. F. Hair, “Partial least squares structural equation modeling,” in Handbook of Market Research, C. Homburg, M. Klarmann, and A. Vomberg, Eds. Springer International Publishing, 2022, pp. 587–632.
O. Prokopenko, M. J¨arvis, T. Bielialov, V. Omelyanenko, and T. Malheiro, “The future of entrepreneurship: Bridging the innovation skills gap through digital learning,” in Innovations in Industrial Engineerng III, J. Machado, F. Soares, J. Trojanowska, V. Ivanov, K. Antosz, D. Cag¨a˜nov´a, V. K. Manupati, and A. Pereira, Eds. Springer Nature Switzerland, 2024, pp. 206–230.
V. F. Motta and S. V. R. Galina, “Experiential learning in entrepreneurship education: A systematic literature review,” Teaching and Teacher Education, vol. 121, p. 103919, 2023.
J. A. Kanivia, H. Febiansyah, U. Rahardja, and K. Adiyarta, “Advanced predictive models for the startup ecosystem using machine learning algorithms,” APTISI Transactions on Management, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 221–230, 2024.
Authors
Copyright (c) 2025 Iston Dwija Utama, Puji Prabowo, Zalena Mohd
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This journal permits and encourages authors to post items submitted to the journal on personal websites while providing bibliographic details that credit its publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted to post their work online in institutional/disciplinary repositories or on their own websites. Pre-print versions posted online should include a citation and link to the final published version in Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication as soon as the issue is available; post-print versions (including the final publisher's PDF) should include a citation and link to the journal's website.