[Épinglé] March 2023 Anglophone Topic of the Month:Museums and Entrepreneurship

@tsholo I agree with you about marketing strategies that museums should use this technique to attract more visitors and other stakeholders to invest in this place. For example, there are different elements in marketing strategies, including product, price, people, place, promotion, etc. So if African museums employ these strategies effectively, the  museums will benefit a lot from the entrepreneurship field.

@tsholo indeed Museums have the opportunity to tap into marketing strategies that they can take advantage of to advance their cause. Exhibition designs is also something that entrepreneurs can help museums grow. 

@zuhura thanks for bringing out this research findings for they clearly emphasize the existence of todays' museums in  the entrepreneurship-oriented spaces. It means museums need to continously work on their marketing strategies and exhibition design to advance their operations in a competitive market-based environment....and like you mentioning one of the Tanzanian museums' incorporation of entrepreneurship models, it calls for innovative and passion-driven management teams in museums to explore and experiment with techniques from start-ups and technologies.

@nmbure 

Museums can use their entrepreneurship spirit to enter new business model by becoming more intentional with raising awareness about entrepreneurship to communities. They need to engage thoroughly with and educate the broader communities on the value of entrepreneurship as an economic development strategy, like they need to bring forth inspirations providing similar or related success stories. The institutions need to work more in understanding local economic development priorities so they know where and how to offer support. This will help the museum institutions to help create solutions that meet the needs of communities.

@nmbure

Museums can use their entrepreneurial spirit to enter the new business by creating a welcoming environment for other entrepreneurs and the locals surrounding it. Museums need to be aware of the internal and external environment to position themselves in a business world and to know their competitors, their customers and what they want so as to fit in their minds.  Museums must employ audience and product-focus approaches to build a robust business model. By doing so, African museums will be in an excellent stage to segment, position and target their customers; hence, they will be able to satisfy their needs and want

@nmbure This is one of the most interesting conversations of the 21st century where, statements like, "Make money make sense" have become the norm. I think it's essential for us to understand and appreciate that museums can be sensitive spaces, as such whenever we talk about entrepreneurship and museums it is important to realize that the word entrepreneurship in museums, to begin with, cannot be treated along general and common "popular standards". The concept of entrepreneurship in Museums should therefore be paired together with sustainability. Unlike in other spaces where sustainability can be a matter of choice or a theoretical issue, Museums dealing with entrepreneurship models should strictly work within the frameworks of sustainability. Before any museum engages in an entrepreneurial model, it is key for it redefines the concept of entrepreneurship in line with its model of operation and its mission statement. Entry into new business models by museums requires these institutions to first have guidelines that do not support elements of, "Business nakedness" as J. Mukusha(2012) advises for corporates. This means that museums should adhere to the principles of Ubuntu given that they are custodians of culture and therefore should have business models which communicate the goodness of doing business with full respect for Good Corporate Government practices where business doesn't have to be wholly dollar driven. Therefore, any entrepreneurial endeavor which upholds Ubuntuism, Sustainability, and Good Corporate Governance is the best way that museums should follow.