Innovative Youth Incubator Awards 2016
An Anthology of Case Histories
Edited by Dr. Kenneth A. Grant
Innovative Youth Incubator Awards 2016: An Anthology of Case Histories Copyright © 2016 The authors First published April 2016 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the pur‐ poses of critical review, no part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copy‐ right holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright De‐ signs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6‐10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright holder’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publish‐ ers. Disclaimer: While every effort has been made by the editor, authors and the publishers to ensure that all the material in this book is accurate and correct at the time of going to press, any error made by readers as a result of any of the material, formulae or other information in this book is the sole responsibility of the reader. Readers should be aware that the URLs quoted in the book may change or be damaged by malware between the time of publishing and accessing by readers. Note to readers: Some papers have been written by authors who use the American form of spelling and some use the British. These two different approaches have been left unchanged. ISBN: 978‐1‐910810‐88‐0 Printed by Lightning Source POD Published by: Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited, Reading, RG4 9SJ, United Kingdom, info@academic‐publishing.org Available from www.academic‐bookshop.com
Contents Preface .......................................................................................................... iii The Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship .............................................. 1 Camilla Bartholdy and Dorthea Haldrup The Student Incubator at Aarhus University .............................................. 13 Rajiv Vaid Basaiawmoit Peer Mentoring: The Case of the Student Entrepreneurs’ Club at Novancia Business School ....................................................................... 23 Eric De Mouhy de Sorney, Anna Glaser and Caroline Verzat IDEA: The Venture Accelerator of Northeastern University ..................... 33 Lauren Dibble IMAGINE: An Inclusive Entrepreneurial Learning Experience .................... 41 Hadia H Abdel Aziz, Michael Stephan, Florian Becker‐Ritterspach, Yomna Abouomar, Peter Süß Entrepreneurship Skills Transfer to the Youth Through Training and Advisory Services in Uganda ....................................................................... 53 Sarah Kyejjusa The Encubation model = Education + Incubation ....................................... 65 Stina Linge Empowering Youth Through Innovation, Skills Development and Entrepreneurial Training ............................................................................. 77 Franklin D. Odoom
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Acknowledgements We would like to thank the judges, who initially read the abstracts of the case histories submitted to the competition and discussed these to select those to be submitted as full case histories. They subsequently evaluated the entries and made further selections to produce the finalists who are represented in this book.
Head of the Judging Team and Editor Dr Ken Grant is a professor of entrepreneurship and strategy in the Ted Rogers School of Business Man‐ agement He is a visiting professor in the UK, Europe and Asia. His research interests include strategy, en‐ trepreneurship, knowledge management and innova‐ tion, and pedagogy. He is an active coach and sup‐ porter of student entrepreneur activity across the university and is currently working to facilitate the development of entre‐ preneurship programs in China. Prior to joining Riyerson, Dr. Grant had an extensive career as a management consultant and industry executive in Canada and the UK, leading global consulting practices in several major firms. He holds a BA degree from the Open University, an MBA from the Schulich School of Business and a DBA from Henley Business School.
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Preface Across the world, in almost every country, the development of entrepre‐ neurship education and entrepreneurship practice is a national priority. Small to medium‐size enterprises are seen as a growth engine for the economy and developing entrepreneurial abilities in young people is seen almost as a "magic" solution to solve youth unemployment and underem‐ ployment. Many universities have launched educational programs to help educate and develop young entrepreneurs. However, at its core, entrepreneurship is about doing. Getting ideas, try‐ ing them, failing, trying again, acquiring resources and, hopefully, launch‐ ing a successful business. Failure is common, but failures can be reduced by using the right approaches and tools (such as the Lean Launchpad and the Business Model Canvas) and by providing a supportive ecosystem. The International Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ICIE) is a forum where academics can exchange their research and experiences in their fields. At the fourth ICIE in Toronto in April 2016, at which I was the Conference Chair, a new award was established ‐ the Innovative Youth Incubator Awards. This award recognizes creative and innovative ap‐ proaches to the development of young entrepreneurs. Twenty seven sub‐ missions were made for the first award, of which eight were shortlisted and agreed to present at the conference. This anthology of case histories provides a summation of the eight submissions and illustrates the wide range of approaches that have been taken to develop young entrepre‐ neurs. They come from six countries ‐‐ Denmark, Sweden, France, USA, Cairo (with links to Germany) and Ghana. Some are long‐established and well‐funded, others are in their early stages and desperate for resources. Each has developed a framework or process to take young people from initial ideas to a successful startup. Their ap‐ proaches vary. Some are closely linked to formal academic programs, most restrict access to their own students, but others are very broad in their acceptance criteria for participants. Two are run by students for students. The majority focus on all types of startup, with two being more concerned with the high growth potential or “gazelle” startup, with its need for sig‐
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nificant funding. One focuses on small‐trades based entrepreneurs in a developing economy. Most provide basic office facilities, coaching and mentorship as well as formal and informal gatherings and workshops. Two provide direct access to funding. Collectively, they demonstrate the strong demand that exists to provide startup support for young Entrepreneurs. Their experiences show how to improve participation and the likelihood of success. Despite the wide range in cultural, social and economic backgrounds and environments, they all demonstrate how communities can be built around youth incuba‐ tors and accelerators, with broad participation from their institutions and wider societies. This anthology will be valuable to anyone who is involved in either the setup or operation of youth entrepreneur incubators and accelerators. It provides descriptions of the operational models of each of the incubators, including selection approaches, support provided and community involve‐ ment. This was our first offering of the award. I encourage any reader who is in‐ volved in similar initiatives to consider making a submission for future it‐ erations of the competition. For information about the 2017 competition email info@academic‐conferences.org I hope you enjoy reading about these students successes, for me, this is surely the greatest source of joy for an educator! Kenneth A. Grant Ted Rogers School of Management Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
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