The Leap: Building a Tribe
Tribeulous Fact: We had our first in-person team meeting on July 18, 2020 after 7 months of working remotely.
This week, we are launching a five-week blog series for our Young Entrepreneurs Boot Camp. We are excited to share not only the excitement and thrilling reactions of our program, but also our “what the hell” moments. In this first seemingly disjointed blog, we highlight our initial moments of planning and launch, as well as how our community has been instrumental in supporting our efforts to ensure the success of our program.
Behind the Scenes: About six weeks ago, following the big announcement about the launch of our YEBC (Young Entrepreneurs Boot Camp), we launched our social media marketing with highlights of what the program would look like. Subsequently, we launched the Call for Application. A few days later, our CEO published a blog post about his personal experiences with access and opportunities and launched a fundraising drive to cover the program expenses and accommodate low-income students. The moral and financial support from our community was overwhelming. We raised 63% of our program budget in donations and acquired partnerships with four youth-driven ventures who are supporting the program implementation with financial and material support.
This milestone did not only strengthen us to do more, but also renewed our assurance that we are not alone on this journey; and that our community shares our aspirations and subscribes to our mission of improving learning outcomes and preparing high school students for the future of work. However, as expected, we’ve been sailing through angry storms. Our model is not just new, but it is also unconventional — hence, requiring consistent marketing, time, effort and undiluted energy to find its existence in a saturated ecosystem. More importantly, we have an obligation to prove that this model works, and it has the potential to create a significant impact.
Our first fundraising campaign for the YEBC failed. We did not raise a penny. We had an inspiring story but realized that our expectations were high and the strategy we implemented did not achieve our expected outcomes. Learning from this experience, we created a fundraising framework to reach out to our friends, professional colleagues and partners at all levels. This approach worked, and although we are working on a full-fledged fundraising model, we have gained practical experience of the excitement and hecticness that comes along with fundraising. We do not know what the heck we are in for, but we sure as hell know we are determined to figure it out as we go — we’re building and flying!
We are leveraging the magic of social media marketing, emailing potential partners, pitching to our friends and professional colleagues, and breaking some protocols as well. This entrepreneurial journey has taught us to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, to travel new adventures, climb steep slopes, and document our experiences.
Working remotely has not been an easy journey. With no operational fund, office space and affordable and constant internet and electricity, we grind at local restaurants and at our homes or wherever we can crash to send or respond to urgent communications.
As a team, we not only understand the vibrancy of our Theory of Change, but we have collectively experienced the brutal effects of the Liberian education system. As a result, we are unresolved to remodel our education and entrepreneurial systems with the right insight and innovation to improve learning outcomes, thus building ecosystems to create and sustain quality jobs.
Like every other organization, the Coronavirus outbreak brought us a wave of uncertainties. Nonetheless, these uncertainties and challenges have renewed our collective optimism to look into the future, think creatively, and design innovative approaches to bridge some of the learning gaps exposed by Covid-19 now and in the future.
Our Virtual Entrepreneurship Program was our first test of ‘spontaneity breeds quality.’ With no original plan on the books, and no dime in the bank, we figured out how to create an exciting and engaging learning experience for students to learn and build their confidence. The VEP did not only inspire us to work, but also strengthened our ability to be patient, enhanced our ability to communicate effectively, and unveiled the power of mentorship. It was fun in working together, but more so, fun in sharing our time and knowledge with the students.
Since the launch of the YEBC on July 28, 2020, we have been anxious, exhausted, thrilled and scared. Every step taken is exciting and demanding. The expectations are high and we are preparing for many daunting tasks ahead. While we celebrate the commencement of the YEBC, we do so with mixed emotions. Our initial plan for the YEBC involved 100% in-person activities, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, we adapted a model to work with the current circumstance. We are confident that YEBC 2020 will give us the inspiration and insight to implement the original plan of the YEBC in the near future.
In the coming days, we will share stories of our journey with you through our social media and the YEBC blog series. We believe in data and innovation, but our love for storytelling runs parallel with our vigor to grow into success. The YEBC offers a new learning experience to students of diverse backgrounds and career interests. Some of our students have never had a virtual learning experience, while some of them have not gone beyond booting a computer.
We will share our experience with the students from the entrepreneurship and digital literacy sessions and convey vivid pictures of the masterclasses and on-sites visitations. As we share these stories, we will do so in an attempt to inspire you to share your thoughts, resources, moral and financial support to our dream and overarching aspirations. Join us, let’s build TRIBEs together, one TRIBE at a time.
