Pan-Atlantic University (PAU) originated as the Lagos Business School in 1991 and became a university in 2002. It offers various undergraduate and postgraduate courses but has entrepreneurship at its heart. Peter Bamkole pioneered the school’s Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) in January 2003 and remains its director. The center aims to build entrepreneurial leaders who are committed to continuous learning, process improvement and business ethics. It also strives to ensure that every PAU student obtains a grounding in entrepreneurship. “Every university wants to be known for something, and for PAU it is to be regarded as the entrepreneurial university for Nigeria and Africa,” Peter says.

Each PAU student is required to complete an entrepreneurship course facilitated by EDC, which teaches them how to launch and run a business on campus. They are placed into small groups of students from different backgrounds and with varied skill sets, and provided with $150 seed capital to launch a business. The year-long program concludes with an expo, where students showcase their businesses. Any profits made are put towards a community initiative. In many cases, student businesses continue to operate after the course ends.

EDC teaches the basic principles of entrepreneurship, such as preparing a business plan, registering a company and complying with regulatory framework, but beyond that it is all about experiential learning and figuring out how to work in multidisciplinary teams.The goal, Peter says, is to change mindsets around entrepreneurship, and to help prepare students for the real world. “We know that the people that are being churned out of universities may not get jobs immediately. In Nigeria, it takes an average of three years for a graduate to be gainfully employed. Our program enables the entrepreneurial mindset in our students to either create jobs for themselves or be intrapreneurs if they become employed,” he says.

Meet the PAU entry requirements.
All EDC students must have been accepted into the university.

Be creative.
Students need to think outside the box to ensure that their businesses work.

Be able to learn by doing.
The EDC course is about experiential learning and learning from mistakes.

Be part of a team.
To be successful, students must be able to function in a multidisciplinary team that does not necessarily include their friends.

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All Enterprise Development Centre students must first be accepted into Pan-Atlantic University: pau.edu.ng/admission/undergrad/apply