Scholarship program hopes to aid shift toward entrepreneurship in Africa

Heriot-Watt University's Edinburgh Business School has opened a new program, offering full scholarships toward an online MBA to 250 African students who demonstrate financial hardship, but have ambitions for how they will use their degree to benefit their communities. Thus, potentially many more will be effected through these scholarships. The Director of the Edinburgh Business School speaks about the new program, "We want to establish an initiative to promote life-long learning across the continent." Current students comment on how practical and applicable the courses are and how they have given them new ideas. This is what Alex Vines likes to hear. He is the director of Africa programs at Chatham House, an institute of international affairs in London, who says entrepreneurship is what Africa needs to stand on its own two feet. The shift from "humanitarianism to entrepreneurship and capacity building, with more business and investment and better management of resources is really good news for Africa."

Lacey Watson