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Why Skill for the Future matters
One of the wealthiest men on earth, Sheldon Adelson (CEO and Chairman of the Las Vegas Sands) described some of the qualities entrepreneurs have, by saying “An entrepreneur is born with the mentality to take risks, though there are several important characteristics: courage, faith in yourself, and above all, even when you fail, to learn from failure and get up and try again."
These characteristics seem quite important for success in the business world, but do we really develop them in school? And even more importantly: are we given the chance to use them and make our own professional experiences?
Answering these questions is not easy. In German the answer would be “jein“. That is a portmanteau word, that combines the German words for yes and no - “ja“ and “nein“. The result is “jein“. So maybe I would answer that question with a yes and no.
I could say yes because I gained basic knowledge of economics and mathematics in school. On the other hand I could argue no, given that I did not have a class on entrepreneurship in school.
To summarise, I learned the basics in school, but was not given the outlet to use my knowledge and ideas. As a result of that there was a gap that needed to be filled. Programmes like Skills for the Future and other JA initiatives available in Germany, fill the gaps in our education systems.
The reason JA programmes can fill the gaps is simple: because they give young people, interested in entreprenuership, the possibility to establish their own companies. Giving them a chance to develop and use the characteristics mentioned Mr. Adelson’s quote: courage, faith in yourself, learning from failure and getting up to try again.
Our SFF team, RECYCL3D PRINT completly agrees with his quote. We experienced a lot of challenges while creating our mini-company, especially during the manufacturing process, and we really needed to find courage, faith in ourselves, learn from our failures and start again.
About the author:
Grant Gashi is a 2015 SFF participant from Germany.