Developing entrepreneurial skills and mindset through mini enterprise projects: Is reflection the missing link?

Abstract

In the study reported on here we explored how learners who participated in mini enterprise projects (MEPs) in business studies at junior secondary schools in Botswana experienced reflection. The MEP is a project-based learning experience involving learning by doing in an environment that closely simulates a real business. In this qualitative study we followed a pragmatist-oriented phenomenological methodology to investigate learners’ subjective and intersubjective experiences of MEPs and their reflective thinking and acting. Participants included 13 former business studies learners with experience in mini enterprises, purposively sampled and recruited through snowball sampling. Data were analysed thematically. The results show that reflection is a function of the different phases of the MEP, the lack of systematic reflection built into the MEPs at inception, and, consequently, learners intuitively practise reflection to cope with critical incidents prevalent in the mini enterprise experience.