Entrepreneurial Training Resoruces

What does it take to be an entrepreneur?  Is it something that can be taught?  Is it something that some people are uniquely gifted for? Or are all of us born with the potential?

This term my project team and I took on creating a business model that would address the needs of those living in poverty.  Our plan is to include entrepreneurial training as a part of the training we give our employees at a luxury eco lodge.  A portion of the revenues brought in by your high-end clientele would serve to provide paid training and community service hours as well as provide grants for start-ups that compete in business plan competitions.

I spent some time looking for resources and training programs that are currently out there that service low income communities.  Here are a few of the things I found:

Neighborhood Development Center operates in Minneapolis-St. Paul and serves about 20 communities in the surrounding area.  They have an 11-week training program that includes up to 10 hours of one-on-one consultation and class sizes are small (8-12 people).  The program is built on the premise that “all communities have the talent, energy and ideas to revitalize their own communities.”  This perspective resonates with me – so what are their results? 

Since 1993 they have trained over 4,250 aspiring entrepreneurs with just over 10% now owning an operating their own business.  They have created and maintain 2285 new jobs as a result (53% of the total number trained), which pump about $48M back into the local economy each year in the form of payroll, taxes, rent, and subcontracts.  — Encouraging find but I think a program of this type should be able to be more effective.

TiE which recently started a chapter in Seattle four years ago is an after school program for students in grades 9-12.  It appears to be a six month program and has had 100 students participate so far so I’m guessing class size is around 25.  Because students are so young and the program so new there is no information available yet on the success rate locally. 

Internationally TiE has about 11,000 member with roughly 22% who have gone on to launch a venture.  The program was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley by a group of successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and senior professionals.  TiE’s focus is on generating and nurturing our next generation of entrepreneurs. The purpose of TiE is to encourage and nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs and aims at developing economic growth in vibrant economies as well as under-developed regions.

The Ice House first came across my radar through BGI.  It was developed by The Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative and provides courses for entrepreneurs and trains others in how to lead the course in their community.  The book Who Owns the Ice House seems to provide a foundation for understanding their approach.  Looks like I have a book to add to my summer reading list!

As for their success rate, I was not able to find any statistics however their site is chalked full of testimonial quotes from program participants and associates.

$100 Start Up is a book that I keep see popping up on must read lists for entrepreneurs.  It’s one I purchased a few months back and plan to read this summer.  The motivation behind the book is to help people lead a life of adventure, meaning and purpose — while earning a good living.  Who doesn’t want that? 

From what I can tell so far it presents a simplistic approach to getting started.  It cuts through and bypasses a lot of the traditional hoops people thing they have to jump through in starting a business.  It’s approach and style to me are attractive because the model seams to adapt well to the rapidly changing environment that’s rate of advancement is ever increasing.  It seems very down to earth, get your hands dirty and gain traction quickly kind of thinking.

An article on How to Start a Small Business in a Few Hours in Inc. also caught my eye.  It reminded me of the Monday after leaving my last formal employer and getting things set up for my own first entrepreneurial venture as I prepared to come to business school.

From this research I’m encouraged to find a few resources and organizations out there that align with my hope and dream of creating a business that would support the training of entrepreneurs in developing nations.  The next step will be to dig a little deeper and get to know some of the people behind these orgs. It will be interesting to see what I can learn and glean for when I am ready to step out once more and embark on the next adventure of life in pursing my vision.