THE EFFECTS OF EXPERIENTIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP LEARNING PROGRAMMES ON PERFORMANCE OF TRAINEES’ ENTERPRISES: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM SMALL BUSINESSES IN TANZANIA

Abstract

Informed by experiential learning and entrepreneurship theories, this study explored the effects of an entrepreneurship and small business development training programme on performance of the trainees’ enterprises. Pedagogically, the training adopted an experiential learning approach and involved a group of 24 adult trainees who were owner-managers of micro and small enterprises located in Morogoro Region, in Tanzania. Three months after the training, a monitoring and evaluation process was carried out, through which the trainees were followed-up in their respective areas to examine the extent to which they had put into action what they had learnt during the training and thereby enabling the researcher to deduce the effects of the training. The findings show that the trainees had undergone positive changes, both quantitatively and qualitatively. These included increases in the volume of operations, number of employees, sales levels, quality of the products offered, market coverage, methods of distribution and improvement in management of their enterprises. The findings imply that if well-designed and implemented, the use of experiential learning in entrepreneurship and small business development training programmes can significantly enhance trainees’ internalisation of the appropriate knowledge, skills and thereby improve performance of their enterprises.