Frequently Asked Questions

The research project was divided into five phases. The first, the literature review, was finalized in July 2021, while field visits were replaced by “Desk reviews” due to the health context. Phase 3, started in December 2021 and involves the implementation of a field survey deployed in the form of a questionnaire, the results of which will be analyzed and published during Phases 4 - Data analyses - and Phase 5 - project result dissemination, including conferences and publication of papers.

The research focuses on alumni from Sciences Po, AIMS and other comparable African institutions.

This choice stems from the fact that alumni are among the best groups of people capable of identifying practices that will be critically needed by next generations of entrepreneurs to thrive and be successful.

Participating alumni are selected using a sampling technique called stratification (see in definitions). In simple terms, stratification is the process of dividing members of a population - in this case the alumni - into homogeneous subgroups before sampling. The objective of that technique is to improve the precision of the sample by reducing errors of sampling.

Alumni who chose to become entrepreneurs experienced the toughness of the job market, the requirements of professional life and daily entrepreneurial solicitations. Hence, their command of the know-how, knowledge, values and mindset that must be develop among future generations of Scholars.

Africa has a large diversity of social and economic situations. Therefore, focusing our research on a small group of countries may have biased our results and led to criticisms.

Building on local implantations of AIMS, 5 countries were selected to implement the survey: Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Rwanda, and South Africa. During phase III, the questionnaire was designed and administered on alumni living on those five countries representative of African economic, social and cultural diversity.

Sharing knowledge and results acquired during the research project is a vital dimension of the project as our objective is to contribute to better pro entrepreneurial education in Africa. Results are to be shared through different media and formats. Online and live public events are to punctuate the project and be opportunities to present to students, alumni and to an audience of decision-makers the lessons of the project. Secondly, intermediate deliverables - policy briefs - are to be disseminated via the project website and the sites of the partner institutions. Finally, papers summarizing the lessons of the literature reviews and survey data are to be published.