Entrepreneurship education is a growing concern within political and academic fields 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. A large number of initiatives have been developed worldwide to promote a broad range of entrepreneurial activities within academic institutions 16, 17, 18. This is even truer for developing countries such as those in sub-Saharan Africa, where entrepreneurship is frequently presented as a solution to life and livelihood obstacles for different segments of the population 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26. Entrepreneurship is also envisaged by politicians as the solution for inclusive economic growth and for social inclusion 27, 28, 29, 30. However, the business landscape of sub-Saharan Africa is very different from the contexts of more developed countries, as it is mainly based on local markets, with underdeveloped regional integration and a high level of informal businesses. Furthermore, in these countries, the business and entrepreneurial environment is particularly hostile because of legal barriers, regulations, insecurity, corruption, inadequate infrastructure and poor financial systems, which inhibit the creation and development of businesses and firms 31, 32, 33, 34, 35. Given the unfavourable conditions for entrepreneurship and the weak quality of entrepreneurship, some governments and institutions are beginning to invest in public policies and programmes that promote entrepreneurship and aim at improving business environments 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44.
This is also the case for Mozambique. In recent years, the Mozambican Government and other institutions within civil society have promoted several initiatives to support entrepreneurship and ultimately to improve its level of development in the country. Within the framework of the National Agenda to Combat Poverty 45, a programme for poverty reduction and the creation of new jobs, one of the vectors is the promotion of entrepreneurship through the education system with an emphasis on entrepreneurship support at the level of higher education institutions (HEI), including the incubation of new businesses in order to "strengthen the intervention of the network of institutions engaged in a development capacity to manage and implement business" [ 46, p. 212].
In fact, in the current context of globalization and intense competition, cooperative networks between organizations – here defined as a group of organizations who generally seek common goals related to their survival and sustainability – contribute to the strengthening of competitiveness, the creation of new knowledge, developing new skills and organizational learning.
Much of the literature on cooperation networks has pointed out the rationale of cooperating in terms of business motivations. The latest research on cooperation, however, places the focus on the integration of resources through cooperation as an opportunity for learning and not only to minimize costs 47, 48, 49. This area of literature argues that these relationships have contributed to the emergence of the information age and to the creation of knowledge networks for learning 50, 51, 52.
This study considers this issue to be particularly important in the context of developing countries, since networks and cooperation and their role in the integration of resources and/or organizational learning can function as an important strategy for skills development in organizations in terms of benefiting from globalization and the technological developments that affect all organizations, societies and economies. More specifically, this study focuses on Mozambique, where in recent times, within the framework of the National Strategy for Development – which includes a strong investment in human capital development – HEI have developed cooperation agreements for developing teachers and students’ skills, thereby addressing issues pertaining to the quality of (education) services, to combat unemployment as a result of lacking competencies and for responding to new market demands.
Based on a literature pertaining to a Mozambican case, this study discusses the issue of cooperation networks as a learning instrument and how they can be used for the development of the entrepreneurial skills of teachers in higher education. More specifically, it seeks to identify how these types of university networks can be decisive for the development of teachers’ skills and for the promotion of entrepreneurship in particular within the context of developing countries.
This chapter includes a theoretical discussion and presentation of a case study. The theoretical discussion includes a literature review on the importance of entrepreneurship education in HEI in the context of developing countries and particularly, in Mozambique. It follows the approach of collaborative networks as a tool for promoting learning and developing organizational skills, ending with a discussion on the importance of cooperative networks between educational institutions, and between them and other organizations as a key element for the development of teaching and learning about entrepreneurship. The case presented, in the context of a developing country – Mozambique – is that of Chibuto’s School of Business and Entrepreneurship (Escola Superior de Negócios e Empreendedorismo de Chibuto – ESNEC), one of the five schools of the University Eduardo Mondlane and one of the few HEIs specifically dedicated to entrepreneurship education in Mozambique. Data about this case resulted from participant observation of one of the researchers and data collected between February and June 2013 through an exploratory interview with the director (network manager); documental sources were also consulted.
From a theoretical point of view, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the theme of entrepreneurship by integrating the specific contexts of developing countries. The theoretical contribution also arises from the intersection of entrepreneurship theory and more specifically, the juncture between entrepreneurship education and the theory of networks and cooperation. In practical terms, this study contributes to the heads of HEIs' understanding of the importance of cooperation between institutions/organizations for the development of skills among both teachers and students.
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