Transcript
Page 1: From West Coast to Gold Coast

From West Coast to

Gold CoastTeaching a Capstone Entrepreneurship Course in Ghana based on the Lean LaunchpadDr. Sena Ageypong – Ashesi Universityand Todd Warren – Northwestern

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Ashesi: A world-class, 4-yr African university

• Entrepreneurial Venture Launched in 2002• Mission: Educate the next generation of African Leaders• 631 current students, Over 600 graduates• 14 African Countries, 48% Women• Majors in Computer Science, Business, and MIS• Ethics, Critical Thinking, and Liberal Arts Core• 95% stay in Africa, Many start businesses• Launching Engineering in Fall 2015

Freshman Design and Entrepreneurship

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Course was Based on ‘Lean Launch Pad’

• US NSF Curriculum, Also Stanford and Berkeley

• Follows ‘Startup Owner’s Manual’ (Blank and Dorf)

• Supported by a Udacity MOOC

• Software Support via ‘LaunchPad Central’

• Heavily based on Interviewing “getting out of the building”

• Advisory Board members paired with teams

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Ashesi Learning GoalsGoal Class Activity

Ethics & Civil Engagement Code of Conduct, Engagement in Critique

Critical Thinking & Quantitative Reasoning

Canvas Development, Writing Assignments

Leadership & Teamwork Team Assessment and Charter

Innovation and Action Development of Business Idea

Curiosity and Skill Getting out of the building!

Technological Competence LaunchPad Central and MVP development

Scholarship ● Citizenship ● Leadership

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Course Outline

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The TeamsInitial Concept Final ConceptA spa offering Ghanaian specialty treatments. A mobile spa focused on massage in-home.A culinary school for young professionals. A system to help caterers develop and manage an online

presence to attract and engage customers.

Locally made sports apparel for primary and secondary schools.

Locally designed and manufactured sports bras focused on young professional women.

An app that would enable weekly online delivery of food for busy professionals

Soup delivery focused on young urban professionals in the Accra business core.

An add-on to external water tanks (“Poly-Tanks”) for households to determine water level more accurately than by thumping on the tank, and without climbing to the roof or other tank locations.

A water monitoring and delivery service that insures businesses won’t run out of water.

Bakery Restaurant. Housekeeping Service.Market place for idea exchange between African Diaspora and local African Projects.

Crowdfunding service for educational projects in Ghana.

Pizza delivery for rural college campuses. Pizza and Wing delivery for rural college campuses.

Soccer Academy for high potential soccer players. Video site to connect high potential soccer players and soccer scouts looking to acquire talent.

Plastic waste collection from households for recycling. Device for compacting waste in trash cans, sold to households and businesses.

Online site for download of ‘Trap’ style music targeting Ghanaians.

Integrated event promotion and music site for ‘Trap’ style music.

Individual packaging of cut and cleaned vegetables for commercial kitchens

Pre-made frozen West African dishes (fried yam and kelewele) targeted at students and young professionals.

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Instructors Perspective

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What is was like: Todd• I loved working with Sena!• Sena understood the local context and could help me

translate• She had a better understanding of the students,

including subtle relationships between people in the class

• Sena had better class room control: 60 close-knit Ashesi Seniors can be tough!

• Sena was instrumental in tirelessly recruiting a first class set of advisors

• We would push each other to get material done• Sena brought a different ‘bag of tricks’ I could learn

from as an instructor

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What it was like: Sena• My first attempt at team teaching and it was a career enhancing

opportunity.• Todd has been great from the very first time we shook hands.• His command over the methodology and his personality made it

easy for us to work well together.• Our different backgrounds helped us to bring different perspectives

to critique sessions. In my view, our strengths were complimentary which helped us achieve most of our objectives.

• The students were great, and eager to work on the projects so it was easy to push them to succeed.

• In my opinion, team teaching is better than individual teaching if structured well and the personalities involved are compatible.

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What worked• Doing team formation in class

• Using the MOOC + Text Book• Focus on case studies/ learning the business model

canvas up front• Having students “Get out of the Building”, doing

interviews– Berekuso location is tough…

• Tracking in launcpadcentral

• Adding a writing component at Midterm and Final

• Engaging a local advisory board to pair with teams– Though difficult to get them to travel to Berekuso– Need to work on teams to manage the relationships well

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What didn’t work

• Industry Analysis– Should be a larger part of the

course– Should focus on more divergent

ideas– Need more analysis of good ideas

• Launchpad central for critique– Internet problems– Counter to No-laptop Ashesi norm– Ashesi Students engage more in

critique than US students

• Quizzes are a ‘must have’ to insure students do the reading/watch the MOOC

• Hard to implement ‘Minimum Viable Product’ concept without engineers

• Method is not well geared to capital intensive businesses

• Number of moving parts can make things hard to manage

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Purpose of the 2nd Semester

Goal was to focus on Execution-Customer Creation-Company building

But…-MVPs needed more testing-First 3 weeks of semester was used for this

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Successes• Stronger conviction and belief in their businesses. They

speak about it with confidence, they believe in it

• Interacting with students, some seem to think entrepreneurship is a career as well

• Valuing their businesses improved their investor pitches significantly

• Some teams with challenges in first half had new leaders step up---teams realize the CEO is a serious role.

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Shortfalls• We did get advisors, but some are not responsive and

some not in the direct area.

• Students need more structure / coaching on engaging with advisors

• By mid-semester, teams are getting fatigued. We did not do a good job of painting a good picture of the journey of the entrepreneur

• More team dynamics challenges in second half

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What We Would Change• It’s a year class, so there is no

reason to rush• Insure they understand more

fundamentals before jumping into teams

• More exploration up front– Greater Industry Analysis– More speakers/analysis of

successful ventures– Greater idea generation– More Exposure to local social and

for-profit entrepreneurs

– Wait until the week before mid-term break to form teams

• Delay canvas creation until value proposition, customer segment, and customer journey are clear

• More focus on pitches rather than presentations

• Develop a process flow for the business

• Do back of the envelope cost analysis early

– This is more of an issue in Ghana and for Capital intensive businesses

• Consider other ways of getting advisory board to see final pitches

– Perhaps do in Accra?

• Provide funding support to the teams as going outside the building and testing the MVP is capital intensive.

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Key Takeways in adapting LLC to a new geography

• Team teaching with someone who knows the method and someone who knows the local environment

• For non-venture funded startups, understanding cash requirments and alternatives is essential.

• Get input from a local advisory board. Cast a wide net.

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Thank You!


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