What did Aspiring Young Entrepreneurs in Nicaragua Recognize as Agribusiness and Ecotourism Opportunities using Photovoice as a Data Collection Tool?

Abstract

Interest in entrepreneurship education by scholars and practitioners as a way to overcome poverty is growing. Yet little is known about how entrepreneurship can be a successful approach to achieving prosperity in resource-poor conditions. Entrepreneurship has been mainly associated with the view of entrepreneurs as super humans capable of solving all problems, especially if operating in resource-rich contexts. This qualitative study’s purpose was to explore, through photovoice methodology, the entrepreneurial opportunities involving agribusiness and ecotourism that Nicaraguan students recognized in their communities. Photovoice allowed the researchers to gain in-depth information from students who expressed in images what may have been difficult to explain in words. The students recognized different opportunities linked to their contexts as expressed through photos documenting local assets and materials. The study participants also indicated interests in doing social good, which suggested a more societally oriented view of entrepreneurship. The poor, including youth often marginalized, were able to recognize business opportunities in concert with their economic conditions. Opportunity recognition may be one of the more promising ways to overcome poverty. Its facilitation holds implications for agricultural, tourism, and rural development curricula and educational programming. Keywords: entrepreneurship education; opportunity recognition; photovoice; resource constraints; youth

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“…Therefore, a need exists for teachers of entrepreneurship and agriculture to continue to partner and integrate their curricula so students can use the concept of opportunity recognition (Mukembo, 2017; and other entrepreneurship skills to identify and evaluate agripreneurship ventures to pursue. After graduating, students can apply these skills to identify entrepreneurial opportunities in their communities to exploit for self-employment and job creation that improves livelihoods while enhancing their region's economic prosperity (James-Wilson, 2008;Tukundane et al, 2015;Uscanga et al, 2019;Zeldin, 2004). Educational policy makers (NCDC, 2020), development partners, and school leaders in Uganda are encouraged to support the implementation of policies and to allocate commensurate resources that would capacitate students with these competencies.…”

Correlational analysis of parental occupation on students’ agripreneurial competency skills and choice of agribusiness after graduation in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi, Nigeria

“…Agripreneurship involves the application of entrepreneurial principles to identify, develop, and manage viable agricultural enterprises optimally and sustainably for profit and improved livelihoods (Mukembo & Edwards, 2015a). For example, students could apply the knowledge and skills acquired in entrepreneurship courses to recognize opportunities in agriculture (Mukembo, 2017;Uscanga et al, 2019). To become successful agripreneurs, students ought to acquire many competencies associated with entrepreneurship (Mukembo, 2017).…”

Lived Experiences during International Service Learning: A Semiotic Analysis of Photo Journals

“…Visual methodologies are a relatively new analysis procedure in a majority of disciplines (Glaw, Inder, Kable, & Hazelton, 2017). Many studies have evaluated ISL experiences through examining emotion, cognition, and learning style (Hains, Ricketts, & Tubbs, 2012;Lamm, Cannon, Roberts, Irani, Unruh Snyder, Bredemuhl, & Rodriguez, 2011), and other studies have utilized photonarrative methods in their ISL evalutions (Bost & Wingenbach, 2018;Dobbins, Dooley, & Edgar, 2019;Homeyer, Leggette, McKim, & Walker, 2017;Uscanga, Edwards, & Watters, 2019). however, a review of literature found no ISL experiences that integrated semiotics into their photo analysis process.…”