A business incubator approach to the teaching of livestock production at the University of Buea: Evolution, conception and implementation hurdles

As the internet becomes a global equalizer for knowledge and remote access to tangible things, education that is based on fact acquisition, becomes outdated. Faced with this reality, policymakers require evidence that will justify changes. It is in this context that an innovative approach has been developed in the curriculum of Master of Science in Animal Science (Livestock Production) at the University of Buea, with the aim of contributing to enhancing the competiveness of Cameroon’s Livestock Production sector. It is a business incubator approach, in which delivery of the Livestock Production curriculum is based on principles, processes, applications and research enhancement skills. The application of a business incubator within the program ensures that, in addition to a dissertation, each enrolled student has an opportunity to implement a short duration business plan (maximum six months), in animal production at the University campus, guided by coaches and mentors. In this process, the students take real time risks, to produce a pre-defined animal product, with the aim of making a profit. The students are therefore trained as graduate family farmers. This category of youth is frontline in the digital and policy milieu. These graduate family farmers leave the university, with a feasibility study and business plan, detailing national or global community insertion as Agripreneurs. The evolution, conception, and implementation of this innovation, and hurdles encountered hurdles are highlighted in this paper. This programme, is still at the initiation phase and has so far produced two batches of graduates who are all less than 35 years old. Their implemented business plans were on broiler chicken production. Aver-age profit after loan and interest repayment is 44,737 FCFA (USD 76.05) for the first batch and 41,563.9FCFA (USD 70.66) for the second batch of students. They have been impacted with an agripreneurial mindset, attitudes, and skills, from an experiential learning. Revenue has been generated by these graduate family farmers, and the university. To mitigate the effects of hurdles encountered, a programme entitled ‘Support Programme for the University of Buea Livestock Production and Agripreneurship Students Business Incubator (SP UB LPA SBI)’ has been conceived in the university, to accompany the innovation. The small-yet-determined stride undertaken to integrate a business incubator approach to the teaching of Livestock Production curriculum at the University of Buea, is a proof of concept, indicating that experiential learning, with the aim of improving entrepreneurial intension among graduates, is achievable in a state university in Cameroon. Key words: Agripreneurial- mindset, Cameroon, experiential learning, Livestock production incubator, University of Buea