Conditional student entrepreneurs (CSEs) are students from low-income families, particularly prevalent in Nigerian public higher education institutions (and in other developing countries’ higher education institutions), who have transformed the pains of financial hardships caused by their families’ inability to provide adequate financial support for their education into micro-business opportunities. A recent research in some Nigerian public universities revealed that some students in their early undergraduate years who were confronted with environmental stimuli, such as resource constraints threatening their educational pursuits or significant loss events (e.g., the death of a parent or caregiver, loss of employment or family source of income, retirement of parents, among others), demonstrated resilience by leveraging entrepreneurship (starting micro-businesses) while studying.
Operating micro-businesses while schooling (termed Conditional Student Entrepreneurship) enabled these students to achieve short-term financial stability and continue their higher education pursuits. In the longitudinal study of conditional student entrepreneurship in an emerging economy, published by Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Dr. Ugochukwu Chinonso Okolie identified conditional student entrepreneurship (CSE) and defined it as “micro-business creation while pursuing higher education driven by financial constraints due to parents’ inability to provide adequate financial support” (Okolie, 2025, P. 92). Thus, CSE refers to micro-businesses created and operated by students (mostly with no prior entrepreneurial intentions or experiences) due to financial pressures rather than innovation and opportunity identification.
Who are Conditional Student Entrepreneurs (CSEs)?
CSEs are mostly students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, particularly those whose families or caregivers cannot afford to provide them with adequate financial support to cover tuition fees, accommodation or other basic living costs. Higher education is not free in many developing countries, especially in Nigeria. However, there is a strong belief among the young Nigerian population that acquiring a higher education degree is essential, would enhance their prospects for employment in top firms and contribute to alleviating their family’s poverty. Thus, instead of dropping out, those who view education as a necessity turn to CSE as a strategic response to mitigating environmental stressors threatening their educational pursuits.
Types of Businesses Conditional Student Entrepreneurs Engage in on Campus
In the longitudinal study of conditional student entrepreneurship in an emerging economy, Dr. Okolie identified several micro-businesses that the CSEs engaged in, including
- Retail trading: Selling cooked and baked foods and pastries, drinks, laptop accessories, mobile phone gadgets, school bags, stationery, or second-hand clothes.
- Service-based businesses: Running barbing, hair weaving and dressing, tailoring, small laundry or home cleaning services, tutoring for fellow students.
- Digital hustles: Engaging in graphic design, freelance writing, online marketing, or managing small e-commerce shops on platforms like Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.
- Campus-based opportunities: Acting as middlemen for hostel rentals, photocopy and printing services, or organizing social events like birthday parties for students.
Through engaging in these micro-businesses, mostly operated in their hostel rooms, the CSEs meet their basic needs, supplement the little financial support they receive from their families to pay their education bills, and sometimes, extend financial support to their younger siblings undertaking primary and secondary education. The Table below shows how CSE relates and differs from other related entrepreneurial concepts.
Why Conditional Student Entrepreneurship Matters in Developing Countries
CSE is more than just the concept of students running micro-businesses while simultaneously schooling; it is a survival strategy born out of the desire to mitigate environmental stressors that threaten their educational pursuits. In many developing countries, the cost of pursuing higher education is high and often borne completely by families who may not have sufficient financial resources to carry the full burden of funding their children’s higher education. Many students from such low-income families face severe financial hardships that often force them to drop out of higher education. Given the low access to financial support structures and the rising cost of pursuing higher education, many students turn to CSE as a strategy to continue their education. CSE matters because it highlights the resilience and adaptability of students who transform financial pressures into creating and sustaining micro-businesses. They demonstrate entrepreneurial learning, partnering and resourceful adaptation as they balance their entrepreneurial activities with their academic demands. CSE matters because these student entrepreneurs contribute to local economies and develop skills in innovation, leadership and management.
Exploring CSE in many other developing countries is important. Policymakers can build on findings to design a support system for CSEs. This may include providing financial schemes and interventions to ensure that their education is not jeopardized as a result of operating their micro-businesses.
A Call for Further Research
Most existing discussions of student entrepreneurship focus on passion-driven or innovation-led ventures. Conditional student entrepreneurship sheds light on a different reality: entrepreneurship to mitigate environmental stressors threatening students’ educational pursuits. We need more research to explore CSE in Nigeria and other developing countries, including those in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, where similar conditions may exist. I welcome collaborations on comparative studies that can help uncover how cultural, institutional and policy contexts shape experiences of CSEs across these regions.
References
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