Course: Foundations of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Course Code: ENTR6001
Credit Hours: 3

A significant contributor to economic growth in any country and to success in any organisation is entrepreneurial activity and the innovative spirit. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurial endeavours and innovations fail due to a lack of understanding of the process, skills, and planning involved in successful entrepreneurship, knowledge and application of which would enable the potential entrepreneur, or the business owner or manager to think more analytically and strategically about the actualisation of their innovations and the implementation of their entrepreneurial ideas. Identifying and exploiting potentially profitable business opportunities and understanding how to utilise resources most effectively for the creation of wealth and employment are critical factors in the success of organisations and the development of economies.

The course offers a framework for understanding the entrepreneurial process and exposes students to issues and problems faced by entrepreneurs starting a new business. Students will learn how to recognise and assess business opportunities, develop a business model, assess and obtain the required resources, create and operate an entrepreneurial venture, identify and overcome new venture challenges, and manage the growth of ventures. This course seeks to provide students specific methods to assess and understand the industry they will operate in, customers, and competitors for a new venture. Students will then learn how to translate those insights into a winning venture idea, a business model, and set of distinctive new products and services. The course will also show how these methods can be applied to corporate ventures as well as start-ups.