There are so many social media posts related to education and entrepreneurship. I have no idea why people think your education should be directly related to your richness or your company. One serious deals with learning about "things" and the other is about transactions or wealth creation. There are people who combine these on the basis of their creativity in the field they know very well or who were the first to think of the idea. It however, does not mean every computer guy will have Facebook or Google.
The more I read about this, the more I realise it's mostly promoted by people who want to prove that they "made it" in life without education! Yet, the same people will always be pushing their children to study and get an education. That should clearly remind you that this is not an area of comparison. Otherwise, they would ensure none of their children stepped a foot in class.
I have been promoted to reflect on this issue based on a statement that is attributed to a Dr. Sokuni which dangerously goes as far as saying "Education is important for you to READ, WRITE AND LEARN HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH so you can communicate, transact and do your own Business" (read here). By implication, this means countries like the USA, Australia or UK will never need schools or education because they speak English all their lives. They merely should be born and start transactions. With no regard to why these same countries invest huge sums of money into education, he makes such a serious uninformed statement!
Let's put things in great perspective - Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were speaking English and writing by the time they got to the 5th grade. So did to Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Their companies started on completely different levels. Some of them dropped out and others earned degrees (PhDs for that fact). Did this stop them from starting companies that deal in information technology? Did they need to merely know how to transact after learning how to speak and write in English? Or take Jack Ma, would he even say his English is close to being perfect? Does he even need English to transact? He needs Chinese to make money.
The bottom line in all this is, one does not need an official or formal education to start a business or to be innovative. It is not a requirement. So why would you judge people on an aspect which is not a requirement in that particular field?
Take Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as an example - every one knows what they did and how they earned their money. Yet few people (even those reading this blog) know who Larry Page and Sergey Brin are. Why? Because they followed the path which Gates and Jobs did not. So everyone will talk about the most unlikely person to get rich. Simply labeled as you can make it without a degree. Larry Page and Sergey Brin on the other hand have made the money too, but they got through a straight path of degree all the way to PhDs! As of 2016 Forbes richest people in the USA (check here), they are 9th and 10th with a combined worth of $76bn from Google.
So Larry Page and Sergey Brin or indeed Jeff Bezos are not your everyday examples of how to make it in life because, they went through a straight path in education - the dangerous trend in Zambia where we think you need miracles in making it - not hard work! Check how many "pastors" are among the rich people - because they offer you miracles. Say to your neighbour "money" will always ring on a TV screen near you. Yet, none of these would stand and tell you the real thing of working hard to earn what you need. It has even gone into motivation speakers also with questionable qualities. My cousin always says the easiest people to rob are the miracle seekers because they will come and give you even the little they have and go home happy and dancing, not to the police.
We need to understand the need for hard work or innovation, in order to push for success in our country. Education is a tool to help you understand the world we are in and sharpen your skills in areas important to the individual. Amazon and Google are companies created by people with a degree in computer science or engineering. These skills need an investment in knowing the field. Of course you can hire much educated people like at Microsoft - but can you compare the success of companies/ businesses started by uneducated people and educated ones? Further, not every one is an entrepreneur. Skills and talents differ.
Ultimately, you can't compare education and entrepreneurship. Clearly where does the debate come from? People can be entrepreneurs with or without an education. Some people have even gone further and said, education is a sure way to have a backup when your innovation is not taken up by the public. I actually think it is an aid to life as it widens knowledge and creativity. For that I would make sure my children get an education level to help them succeed than hope for miracles. Further, even the one who performed the most miracles and died on the cross was not a rich person - so whoever emulates him, should not be covered in wealth, but be a symbol and a true follow of the one he preaches about.
