Context and Challenge

One of the best ways to empower youth is by giving them the ability to participate in the economic system. Babson Entrepreneurial Leadership Academies (BELA) gather top students from around the region in an intensive, 6-day academy that culminates in each student delivering a three minute rocket pitch about a business idea they could start today.

The creator of BELA asked for help in developing an interactive workbook to guide students through the entrepreneurial process during their week at BELA and after.

It was important to ask these questions as we began the design process:

• Low-resource bootstrapping: What does it look like to be a bootstrapping startup in Ghana?
• Entrepreneurial journey: What does the entrepreneurial process look like?
• Perceptions about entrepreneurship: What perceptions do students have about entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs?
• Resource access: What resources do youth have access to?
• Technology: What technology do youth have access to?

The following findings arose from our research:

Students have a very narrow definition of "entrepreneurship" that is about business and profit.

Students have a very narrow definition of "entrepreneurs" that is about being born with creativity (or not).

Students perceive obtaining money, finding reliable partners, too much competition, and a lack of education along with other factors as obstacles to starting a venture.

Most curriculums teach students to create long business plans that are not immediately actionable.

Most curriculums use examples that are not contextually relevant such as Apple, Nike, or Coke.

Computer access and internet speed are very limited.

I taught at BELA using the "From Ideas to Action" workbook in Ghana, Rwanda, and Uganda. As a BELA teacher, I worked with a small group of approximately 10 students in each country and was able to see first hand what was working and what was not. Here are the main areas of iteration:

Adjusted flow of exercises to allow for more points of iteration and pauses for reflection: students need more support knowing when might be a point to iterate on their ideas and reflect.

Added exercises addressing passions, network, and idea generation: students needed more support in how to use their passions and network as resources (rather than money) as well as more support in trusting their idea generation process.

*Made hierarchy and flow more clear through visual design: created consistent usage of colors and boxes to signal lesson, exercise, and reflection activties.

Made the workbook feel more inviting for half-baked thoughts: students had the "pretty new journal" effect and would use their own paper instead of writing in the workbook itself.

* This is when I decided to learn graphic design and how to use Indesign and Illustrator...Microsoft Publisher just wasn't cutting it.

From Ideas to Action has been used with over 1,000 students around the world--including Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Cuba, and Vietnam and it has been translated into Spanish and Arabic.

According to survey data from hundreds of students, after participating in BELA, almost every perceived challenge to starting a venture, including obtaining money, is perceived as much less daunting than what was initially believed.

"At first, I thought entrepreneurship was all about starting a business because of famous entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and others. After attending this BELA, my understanding of entrepreneurship changed. It was useful to learn basic topics and knowledge on developing ideas and identifying the needs of our communities and link it to our passions to develop change. I was so inspired by the techniques the teachers used to help us understand. And I have learned that I have all the resources to bring a change in my community now.” - BAHIZI Joseph, 19-year-old Rwandan

From Ideas to Action Website