SIBU: Introducing entrepreneurship as a subject right from Form One should be supported as it helps to train the mind of the younger generation in basic business techniques and tactics, according to Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office (Bumiputera Entrepreneur Development) Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais.

He was responding to Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan’s statement that entrepreneurship, as a subject, should be introduced from Form One to provide students early exposure to entrepreneurship.

“Like other subjects, the knowledge stays in you for a long time, especially when you are good in that subject.

“It makes you knowledgeable and increase your ability to understand business theories better compared when you never study the subject before,” Mohd Naroden, also Assistant Minister of Resource Planning, told The Borneo Post yesterday.

He stressed that in a highly competitive business world, one must be far ahead of others in terms of knowledge, skills and experience.

Otherwise, one would be left behind and on the disadvantage, he added.

He pointed out what was of more important other than the basic theories learned in school was that one needed exposures and practical experiences in problem solving right from an early stage.

“Practical exposures teach an entrepreneur how to be a smart street fighter in competitive business environment like today, and more so in the future,” Mohd Naroden said.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Maslan reportedly claimed that annually only 30 per cent of secondary school leavers showed interest in entrepreneurship, while the government made available various forms of funds and incentives for the young to start small and medium enterprises (SMEs).