Sessions

Teaching Entrepreneurship Through Experiential Learning

The rate of women entrepreneurs in Japan is abysmally low compared to other nations. In fact, Japan ranks last among OECD countries, and data indicates that a mere 17% of Japanese women declared to have knowledge about starting or growing their own business. The current situation indicates the need for learning materials that not only introduce the topic of entrepreneurship to all students but also showcase female models of business success. To this end, the presenters have created a series of experiential learning materials centered around a strong female character, Mirai Takahashi, who is in the process of launching a business start-up with the guidance of her mentor, Catherine Sakamoto. Through Takahashi’s successes and failures, students experience the risks and rewards of starting their own company. The purpose of this session is to highlight how the presenters are currently using these materials and to introduce a series of academic studies regarding how material design can influence perceptions of entrepreneurship, gender equality, and digital transformation in business. The presenters will describe their current efforts to gather both quantitative and qualitative data for these studies and share their initial results. Active participation from audience members is strongly encouraged.