Setting The Stage For Entrepreneurship: Progress update

Written by Ries Van Beek. Originally posted to Chattothefuture.ca Feb 1st, 2015

Project Manager Progress Report

January 2015

Now that I am currently more than 4 months into my tenure as CHAT to the Future’s Entrepreneurship Mentor for the “Setting The Stage For Entrepreneurship” project I can report that the project is progressing at a healthy pace. Strong partnerships have been developed with schools in central and Southern New Brunswick and students’ levels of entrepreneurial skill, confidence and awareness has been bolstered by our project. Most students had little to no awareness of the concept of social entrepreneurship and are now conversant with the language and tools of social enterprise. They have tested their abilities to effect change, and with the help of CHAT to the Future, they have developed more meaningful relationships with their peers, their teachers and with our young friends in Uganda.

Thus far, the project’s areas of strength include the successful partnerships with five of the biggest high schools in New Brunswick. As well, the creation of 1sttime entrepreneurship markets in 4 of our 5 schools and the introduction of social entrepreneurship to classrooms, instruction and all 5 schools’ entrepreneurship markets. Fundraising results have been mixed but there is every reason to expect increased organization and consistency for second semester. As well, a wealth of opportunities for guest speakers from the private sector are available, as well as potential mentors for students willing to take their ventures beyond the classroom.

Areas of difficulty include varying levels of skill in our teacher-partners, varying levels of commitment to entrepreneurship in our student-partners, and New Brunswick’s general diffuse and ‘arm’s length’ approach to fostering entrepreneurship in youth. CHAT’s social entrepreneurship model has certainly inspired and added meaning to the work in classrooms. However, to this point, the number of students that have applied for loans, or attended contests and exhibitions or participated in entrepreneurship conferences outside the classroom walls is limited to single digits per school.

In the next phase of the project, the number of schools will be doubling from 5 to 10 and extending a greater geographic range across our province. As well, more meaningful data will be collected through our partnership with our external evaluator and the scope of the project will continue to grow. Some new elements to the project now include plans to host events that will showcase the strongest of our student entrepreneurs and connect them with other agencies that promote youth entrepreneurship. As well, we hope to see our participating students connect with resources to launch their social enterprises as stand-alone ventures in the Spring.

Progress Report on the Project Manager’s 90 Day Plan:

1. Connections to CHAT Uganda house and development of instruction / curriculum materials.

Lessons to prepare for conversations with students have been developed to support NB students. High school students require some prompting / preparation to ensure an active and productive Skype chat from our side. (I.E. “Don’t stop believing”, the wave, business expo) However, the long term relationship between the CHAT kids and our schools generally remains an opportunity / concern. (Max call time nearly reached)

1. – Develop Connections to Relevant Stakeholders.

One of the most successful aspects of the project so far is the enthusiasm and appreciation that CHAT has received from the educational community as well as local and regional partners. (I.E. Planet Hatch, Brilliant Labs, Enterprise NB & Ignite, UNB) Teachers have been very receptive to the project and have all committed for a 2ndsemester partnership. Documentation (work logs) of frequency of visits and communication have been created. The specific details of the partnerships will be better planned as we proceed to the second repetition of the work with our first 5 schools.

1. – Protocols and data clarification.

Confirmation of our external evaluation firm (Health and Education Research Group) has led to the development of a Logic Model that is serving as a guiding document. Specific data results and targets will be better defined with the implementation of student surveys pre, mid and post semester. Now that the 1stfull semester of the project is drawing to a close, new and more specific data targets for mentors, teachers and the project manager should be developed in consultation with the board.

1. – Research methodology for mentoring model.

The mentoring model that was in use for the fall semester of 2014 was initially based on the “Consultancy Protocol” as developed by the National School Reform Faculty. However, after reviewing models with the Angie Taylor at the CEED program in N.S., a mixed approach has been to allow for flexibility depending on the culture and conditions of each school. The flexible high school schedule in January is affording the opportunity to outline a more deliberate and structured relationship between the project manager and the schools. This should promote a more consistent method of mentoring students and teachers.

1. – Develop curriculum model for year 2.

After communicating an interest in participating in the design of the new entrepreneurship curriculum for New Brunswick, Dan Steeves, the Learning Specialist responsible for coordinating the new curriculum, has invited CHAT to create an addendum to the current draft curriculum document that will introduce and promote Social Entrepreneurship as an essential component to entrepreneurship classes. This material will be reviewed by the provincial curriculum committee working on the new Entrepreneurship curriculum and will hopefully be included in the final published draft.

1. – School visits & Smart Goal development.

Broadly speaking, the only goals agreed upon in each partnership between the schools and the Entrepreneurship mentor were to promote the story of CHAT as a model for social entrepreneurship and to organize at least one fundraising initiative. Each school produced different results under this umbrella. In the existing school partnerships, the second semester goals will be more specific and in keeping with SMART goal parameters. However, in new partnerships, there will need to be a flexibility in and broadness in the goals setting process until the partnership is solidified.

1. – Digital communication to businesses.

Partnering businesses have been ‘friended’ , tweeted and are included in email communications to promote upcoming events and share in recent successes. Many entrepreneurs have offered to speak to classes (in person and via Skype) and each school has taken advantage of these partnerships at least once. Opportunities to integrate private sector mentors and guest speakers will increase in 2015 with more deliberate planning between teachers and the project manager.

1. – School visits and mini-lessons.

Over the course of the semester, each school received at least 10 in person visits by the project manager. This level of ‘in-person’ support will not be sustainable once the project extends beyond the Fredericton — Saint John region. Visits have typically begun with 2 lessons on the story of CHAT as a model of social entrepreneurship and an awareness session on the opportunities available to teen entrepreneurs in New Brunswick.

1. – Social media project presence.

Students are made aware of the importance of their work through the promotion of events and achievements on various social media platforms. As well, main stream media have participated in celebrating the achievements of our participating students. These platforms have helped to build student engagement and enthusiasm.

1. – Business mentor data-base.

The Mentra, Planet Hatch, Enterprise New Brunswick and other organizations have thrown open the doors to their data-base of NB business leaders that would be willing to function as guest speakers or as potential mentors to student ventures. Although guest speaking has been a popular feature to classrooms, to this point, we have not seen adequate levels of student commitment to merit a one-to-one or small group mentoring relationship.

1. – Skype session facilitation between school, businesses, and stakeholders.

Skype sessions have been largely successful and, whenever possible, have included members of the community from outside the school. Unquestionably, these experiences have solidified and enhanced the level of commitment and engagement of all participants.

External evaluator update

School fundraising efforts for CHAT have varied, depending principally on the level of enthusiasm of the teacher. CHAT has received as little as $180 from one school and over $1400 from another. This may be one area in which a more specific targets need to be suggested to ensure the support and value that CHAT is providing is not taken for granted financially.

The creation of a micro-loan budget through the support of the NBIF has failed to materialize but other organizations such as Enterprise NB and the Community Development Bank have resources that are available on an ongoing basis to youth that are interested in taking their business ventures beyond the classroom. As well, meetings with Gizele McCarthy and her director, Alan Bard, have provided us with the option of using unspent budget funds creatively towards student initiatives. Alan has expressed a willingness to review the progress of the project in the coming months to explore opportunities for the minister to become involved and for possible continuation and even expansion of the project in the coming months.

Overall, PETL project budget is proving more than adequate to meet the project goals thus far, with funds remaining largely untouched in some of the support areas such as office space, translation, postage, etc…. In light of meetings with Gizele McCarthy from PETL, the budget lines allow some degree of flexibility to cover the only area where we are scheduled to exceed the budget line: travel. As well, the project will hopefully grow and incur costs in facilitating activities such as student business development and events to foster the growth of student entrepreneurial skills.

Setting The Stage For Entrepreneurship: Progress update May 17th, 2015.

Originally published at chattothefuture.ca on February 1, 2015.