Dr. Ugochukwu Chinonso Okolie has joined the Institute for African Studies, Leipzig University, Germany, for the African Centre for Career Enhancement and Skills Support (ACCESS) research fellowship.
Dr. Okolie’s research fellowship will explore the links between Conditional Student Entrepreneurship (CSE) and Employability. It aims to uncover how CSE impacts the employability of students upon graduation. This is a part of an ongoing research to expand the CSE framework and explore the concept within the developing countries that the ACCESS programmes cover.
Okolie (2025) conceptualized (CSE) as a phenomenon where students from low-income backgrounds, despite having no prior entrepreneurial experience, establish micro-businesses while pursuing their education to alleviate financial strain due to parents’ inability to continue providing full financial support for their educational pursuits. CSE serves as a vital survival strategy for financially constrained students, particularly in emerging economies like Nigeria, where the cost of higher education often falls heavily on parents who may be facing significant economic hardships.
Given that employability encompasses the hands-on practices that enable students to gain relevant skills, knowledge and attributes that enhance their school-to-work transition, this research focuses on how CSE can present a unique pathway through which financially constrained students can acquire and develop many employability skills in high demand by employers. For example, the model of CSE for financial stability (Okolie, 2025) suggests that engaging in CSE exposes students to three positive cycles (entrepreneurial learning, resourceful adaptation and partnering), leading to short-term financial stability. The fellowship will explore how the positive cycles enhance employability skills development among the CSEs.
Dr. Okolie is thankful to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Institute for African Studies and Leipzig University for providing the required resources to pursue this research.