Dissertation Assessment Report for Postgraduate Programmes

Student Full Name: Henry Kaipa

Study Title: ‘Entrepreneurship Education and Business Incubators a Perfect match

in Developing Entrepreneurship and Creation of New Business: Lessons for
Malawi’

Examiner’s Full Name: Dr John Taulo

This dissertation examines the role of entrepreneurship education and business

incubation as a perfect match in encouraging entrepreneurship development,
innovation, creation and growth and sustainability of new business in Malawi. The
dissertation takes an appropriate starting point in arguing that lack of/or absence of
entrepreneurship education and business incubation has resulted in high start-up
failure rate and the desired growth levels not to be achieved yet in the country.

The topic is based on working life needs, it is current, innovative, significant and
more challenging than normally.

The introduction and background of the study is well written and covers sufficiently
the research area. The author should add a section on the scope of the study or
combine with the study limitations. In addition, the candidate should include a
section on dissertation outline or overview.

The aims of the research have been defined clearly and logically. The aims presented
on pages 5-6 are clear and well justified. However, there is no sub-section on the
research question (s) that this study attempts to address.

The literature review is concise, covering the main relevant theories and empirical
studies in this area. It reflects a sound grasp of the literature and a well-argued
critical perspective on this material. The candidate presents a clear account of his
conceptual approach to critique, and demonstrates a reflexive perspective on his
own work. The dissertation presents a strong contribution to debates on how
matching entrepreneurship education and business incubation can help reduce the
high mortality rates of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) start – ups and lead to
creation of more and new business enterprises in Malawi.

Chapter 2 focuses on the literature on entrepreneurship education and business

incubation as a perfect match in developing entrepreneurship and creation of new
business start-ups. This is clear and well-argued, presenting especially good coverage
of reflective practitioner theory, situated learning theory, cluster theory of economic
growth. Moreover, the chapter also has reviewed literature on entrepreneurship
education, its importance as well as covering business incubation, its relevance and
challenges facing entrepreneurs in Malawi.

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Chapter 3 presents a well-structured and clear account of the methodological
framework of the research, the rationale for the research design and a description of
the research philosophy and methods used. In general, the coverage of the
development of the methodology and the research design is thoughtful and
coherent. The study is well planned and controlled and the methods are described
clearly. The sample size used in this study was 264 graduates, and I was not entirely
convinced with the assumption that 78% of the graduate start businesses given the
lack of research in this area. However, this is not a major problem.

Chapters 4 is the main empirical chapter, focusing on the role of entrepreneurship

education and business incubation as a perfect match in developing entrepreeurship
and creation of new businesses in Malawi. However, results of the study answer
only partially to the set goals, research tasks or problems. Presentations of the
results are unclear. Some of the strongest parts of the dissertation , in my view,
involve the use of regression models to establish the relationship between enterprise
growth in terms of number of employees and entrepreneurship education, business
incubation in Malawi and Kenya.

Chapter 5 includes the conclusions of the dissertation. The conclusion is well-argued,

summarising the key findings of the study, presenting some thoughtful reflections on
the research process and future directions for work in this area. I found it interesting
and heartening to see the work developed in this way, and in my view this
dissertation makes a very important contribution to our understanding of the role of
entrepreneurship education and business incubation as a perfect match in
developing entrepreneurship and creation of businesses in Malawi. However, the
discussions and conclusions are weakly justified. They are loosely connected to the
framework of the dissertation.

The dissertation is well-written, but contains many grammatical and typographical

errors, although the style and layout is good. I have a few suggested revisions below,
but these are at the discretion of the Board of Examiners. The candidate clearly
demonstrates creative abilities in his research field and the dissertation meets the
required standard of a masters dissertation to justify the award of an MSc.

Internal Examiner: Dr John Taulo

Department of Energy Resources
Malawi University of Science and Technology
28th February 2019

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Suggested revisions

1. Redo the table of contents.

2. Include the methodology used in the abstract and the implications of your
study findings/or policy implications. The problem statement is unclear in
your abstract.
3. Be careful in the selection of words. The dissertation has so many words
that require to be replaced. The use of long sentences is academically
discouraged. Some words have been overused / repeatedly which makes
your work or writing boring

4. Some paragraphs need to be rephrased and include some citations in

places with… other scholars/several scholars

5. Key research question(s) that your study is addressing is conscipicously

missing and am wondering how you arrived at your objectives

6. What was the research gap that was identified in the literature review or
How did the literature shape your study.

7. It would have been better, if you had developed a conceptual framework

For your research as opposed to the theoretical framework.

8. Redo some of your graphs. Also avoid discussing two much information
Already presented in the Tables. Discuss the key findings

9. The concluding chapter should also include a paragraph or two, discussing

Study limitations

10. Suggested areas for further research are not convincing and needs to be
properly identified.

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 Study Task Grade Grade (out of )
1 Topic 8 10
2 Background 12 20
3 Aim and research question 6 10
4 Literature Review/ 15 20
Theoretical framework
5 Research methodology frame 8 10
6 Presentation of results 11 20
7 Interpretation and conclusion 6 10
and recommendations
TOTAL 66 100