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When life hands you lemons, make lemonade: Entrepreneur in Residence

Children are introduced to many different types of jobs growing up: firefighter, doctor, lawyer, and policeman, maybe even businessman, scientist or astronaut. The career path of an entrepreneur is much more difficult to conceive, even to explain and not often presented as something towards which young students can aspire, beyond a lemonade stand on the corner. In communities facing economic decline and without job opportunities, children encouraged to chase their dreams may not understand any opportunities that exist for them at all, particularly among those not destined for college.  As one of the commentators wrote below, "...the education system here in the US teaches students that if they take classes and get a diploma the next logical step is to go and ask other people for a job...shouldn't we be teaching students to take on the mindset of being productive and meeting a need in their community, whether it means building something or providing a service?  We should be teaching students to be productive rather than teaching them to be employees."

Concrete inspiration could flow from establishing a program of entrepreneurs in residence who could collaborate with teachers, arrange field trips, help run school businesses, teach finance and budgeting classes and arrange competitions across the district.  As one of the comments below alludes to, "doing" and not just "learning" is an important aspect of the program. The program should be experiential learning, applying what they see in class to their own businesses and the other subjects they are studying in school and seeing the benefits and rewards of their work through competition and real market forces within and outside the school (see comment below by Advait)

 The EinR would serve as a mentor and role model for students and encourage them to chase a passion, using entrepreneurship as an outlet and a path for their future.  For those students for whom a regular course of study is a chore, the EiR program could foster a purpose to an interest they might have.   The impact of having entrepreneurship as a present and relevant topic to their studies and as a future opportunity for students where many don’t exist could jumpstart small businesses and markets across the community.

The program would also need an "infrastructure" to support these EiRs and future entrepreneurs graduating from city schools.  Like they have done in New Orleans with the Idea Village, a space could be repurposed to serve as a hub for the EiRs and the students.  To bring talent to the area to help with the program and serve as the "feet on the ground" for the EiR program, the city/community could also start a young entrepreneurs fellowship for those just graduating from college or an MBA program that could serve by coordinating the EinR program or serving with an EinR with a guaranteed loan to start their business at the end of their fellowship. 

Local entrepreneurs should also be engaged with the schools, sharing their experiences of operating in that very school and could be incentivized not only through the opportunity to give back to their community but also through the opportunity to interact with other local and serial entrepreneurs serving at other schools, creating a support and mentoring network.  Perhaps successful entrepreneurs from other communties could serve as mentors to the EiRs in the city to help them develop a strong program for their students.

A foundation for this type of curriculum already exists: the Lemonade Stand Program, Junior Achievement, and the idea of bringing entrepreneurs together and supporting them has taken place in New Orleans through initiatives like Idea Village. 

38 Evaluations so far

Comments

Ashutosh Biltharia

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January 06, 2012, 07:19AM

Entrepreneurship program for graduates is a great idea. Let young mind follow their passion. It will create an enthusiasm and vibrancy in the community as well.

And once they are into it, debate/ discussion sessions can also be organized to bring all young entrepreneurs from different fields to a single platform to share their experiences and contribute through variety of thoughts and ideas. Local entrepreneurs from nearby Village/towns and school children can also be called to attend the same event. The result will be flow of information and knowledge, more & more connections and so in a way it will open door of new opportunities.

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Natalie Grillon's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Natalie Grillon

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January 09, 2012, 03:37PM

something like an OpenIDEO, but for kids? or maybe in person? a conference for kidsto showcase what they've done but also learn from each other. What kinds of programs could we introduce into sessions like this to foster learning and debate across ages, do you think?

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Ashutosh Biltharia's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Ashutosh Biltharia

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January 16, 2012, 04:17PM

As soon as graduates complete their Entrepreneurship Program, they will be getting into the field and will be experiencing/tackling practical aspects of the program. Once they complete few years in this, they will be like experienced people and will have much more knowledge about entrepreneurship. So then they can contribute to their communities by taking part in such sessions. And sharing all about their journeys.

And the idea behind encouraging kids to attend the sessions is to give them the exposure of the same entrepreneurship. Once young entrepreneurs will make their full efforts and will start doing well in their respective businesses, they will also set an example for coming generations of the community i.e. Kids.

Kids might take those young entrepreneurs as their heros/ role models. kids will want to follow them. So it will be great to involve kids. To involve kids creatively and interestingly, programs /workshops can be introduced.

Entrepreneurship is also about ownership. So workshops in which they will make/create something in the given time and the same thing they will have to sell to the visitors of the event. By doing this kids will be the owner of the thing they make and at the same time they will try to sell it. So it will provoke their thinking about making a business on their own. they will be exposed to the considerations of making a business/selling their ideas n all on a very small but informative level. After the workshop, the expert young entrepreneurs can give kids the feedback about strategies to be followed to make a business and kids who did well can be awarded as an encouragement.

Instead of giving direct lectures/seminars about entrepreneurship to kids, above workshop idea can do well because kids will be involved in the whole process of making a business. At the end when they will get expert feedback they will be grasping it thoroughly. The whole process will be a good learning exercise.

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Melanie Kahl

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January 14, 2012, 10:17PM

The "entrepreneur" in residence points out a significant problem not only in having alternative career paths in schools, but having professionals "in residence" in general. Both to work with students, complement and enhance instructor skill sets, and to set the curriculum in general.

A program that I worked with in Kansas City (http://www.bvcapsalumni.org/) started shaping their program from the start by, in all areas, asking growing industries what students needed – in biotech, media, global business, engineering, human services, etc. They created an ecosystem of business partners to create curriculum (Garmin even certified theirs), provide clients (Freedom Bank had students design a student bank card), mentor, provide internships/training, give legal advice on student patents/projects etc....And it was this fertile and flexible ground that set the stage for entrepreneurship.

Now, they are in the process of making a business accelerator space within their own school. Not necessarily because of just an entrepreneur in residence, but because they had kids innovating/collaborating at such a high level, that it was a natural by-product.

It makes me think that this idea is fantastic, but also potentially one piece of this puzzle. Education and schools are a fertile ground for restoring vibrancy in cities, but I'd love to see how this program could be designed to be more comprehensive. Or to inspire a broader range of workforce development that prevents "brain drain."

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Leila Tovbina

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January 14, 2012, 08:29PM

I like this idea, but I would combine it with two other ideas that made top 20 - Vibrancy in a Box and especially Pocket Change. It seems to me that, in order to revitalize struggling communities, you need all of the following inputs:

1. Executable ideas
2. Entrepreneurial drive and experience
3. Motivated people with time on their hands
4. Capital to fund the projects

Vibrancy in a Box could provide the executable ideas by creating a forum for prototyping. Entrepreneur in Residence could provide the entrepreneurial drive and experience to guide the projects. Entrepreneur in Residence plus Pocket Change could motivate local youth, who have time on their hands, to get involved by engaging them with a mentor and providing some limited financial rewards. Finally, you'd need capital to fund these projects, which might be easier to obtain from potential funders by centralizing the initiative in schools.

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Jeroen Spoelstra

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January 14, 2012, 11:42AM

Hi Natalie, you have a good concept on hand. I use the Business Model Canvas from Osterwalder to give my students more entrepreneurial insides. The Canvas is a visually strong concept to make rapid and strong business models. People that have never made business models understand the BMC. http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas

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Avi Solomon

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December 27, 2011, 05:05AM

Natalie, another option (in case the local entrepreneurs are not at hand) could be to start student discussion groups to listen to and apply lessons from entrepreneurial podcasts:
http://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html

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Natalie Grillon's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Natalie Grillon

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December 27, 2011, 09:36PM

and additionally could a type of podcast catered specifically for kids be created for the program- lower cost and easily scaled out to classrooms

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Shyam Vijayaraghavan's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Shyam Vijayaraghavan

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January 11, 2012, 05:25PM

A challenge that I have faced an entrepreneur is that In a start-up, we must act on instinct, but without start-up experience, those instincts are unrefined.

Seeking entrepreneurial mentors is almost a necessity to avoid the iterative trail-and-error mistakes that plagued my first venture (a restaurant), and several others who I have talked to. Thus, It is fantastic if entrepreneurial mentors can be found.

When I have not had a more experienced mentor, I have wished for an alternative, and your group-sourcing solutions sounds fantastic. Afterall, it is what this site is based upon.

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Ashley Jablow's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Ashley Jablow

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January 12, 2012, 10:03PM

Nice build, Avi and Shyam, thanks for weighing in here with your experience. I love the idea that the mentorship provided by the EiR could be supported through the use of digital resources like podcasts, virtual trainings and others that help provide context and serve as inspiration for the students in the program.

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Advait Ubhayakar

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January 11, 2012, 07:07AM

Hi Natalie,

In my experience, the key qualities to foster an Enterpreneurial mindet are the ability to spot opportunities, pursuing a goal, perseverance and gratification. Since these are qualities that can be developed through practice, I think an attempt to develop them will have to be centred around DOING (with real rewards) rather than TELLING. Here are some suggestions to inculcate this in a school environment to help children:
1. Spot existing opportunities: Help them notice the possessions they already have in plenty and how they can actually use them / rent them out to make something more of it. This is based on my real-life example of an undercover book rental practice I started in my school when I was 9! The money I gathered from the 'rent' would go into buying new books. This taught me the lesson early on the power of how a product I already have can become a self-generating service.
Pursuing a goal: 2 practical 'resources' that school children have lots of is time and a large group. The resident entrepreneur could approach local businesses with small tasks

2. Get a new perspective on Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurs have also long been considered as mavericks who drop out of college, take wild risks etc. Instead of only targeting students who feel a 'regular course of study', it might be a good idea to help them see 'entrepreneurship' as a layer on the things they study and interact with. For example: A geography class studying different fauna could start a 'Green Saplings drive' where students can go with resident entrepreneurs to sell saplings from mobile vans etc. Involving them in the actual sale will help them see the process and be a practical lesson in concepts like 'Demand-Supply'.

3. Get recognition and rewards: Reaping the rewards for the work done would be very important. For every successful project done, the children should be invited to share in the profits. Also, a formal recognition in terms of sending information about the drive to local newspapers, photos in the school area will help bolster confidence and prompt others to join.

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Shyam Vijayaraghavan's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Shyam Vijayaraghavan

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January 11, 2012, 05:17PM

I agree that *doing* is the most important aspect of entrepreneurship. Having started businesses in several industries, I find that it is the biggest hurdle. I have encountered many people with brilliant ideas - but in schools we are often taught to wait until there is perfect information before acting.

I have seen many projects become stalled or delayed because a potential entrepreneur waits too long, loses the opportunity, or loses interest as the grind of life starts to take over again.

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Ranyee Chiang

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January 09, 2012, 09:04PM

This concept reminds me of another OpenIDEO challenge that is now wrapped up - http://www.openideo.com/open/what-is-the-global-challenge-that-most-concerns-you-right-now-and-that-global-innovation-leaders-could-begin-to-solve/brief.html. In particular, there was one concept that is highly relevant - http://www.openideo.com/open/what-is-the-global-challenge-that-most-concerns-you-right-now-and-that-global-innovation-leaders-could-begin-to-solve/agenda-concepts/in-what-ways-can-we-innovate-with-not-for-communities/.

I posted some thoughts for that challenge that I think are relevant here. Bringing entrepreneurs together with teachers and students is a key step, but I think we should also think about how to bring about sustainable transformations in the students. Key considerations are building the students so that they are equipped to identify problems and solutions themselves and getting students to see themselves as entrepreneurs. It's related to idea from the other challenge that innovation should be for, with, and, I think most importantly, from communities. The role of the Entrepreneurs in Residence, in addition to sharing experiences and helping students with specific projects, can be to help students build the mindset and skills to be independent entrepreneurs. I'd be happy to talk more about lessons from science education (aka developing independent scientific thinkers), if there is interest.

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Meena Kadri

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December 26, 2011, 09:18PM

Fab start, Natalie! We're anticipating discussions to flourish here and your ideas to evolve. You can make updates to your entry at any time using the Update Entry button up there on the right. Here's an example of how built up ideas can get over the course of a challenge: http://www.openideo.com/open/localfood/winners-announced/public-kitchen/ Let's bring on the builds and spell out the specifics!

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Natalie Grillon's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Natalie Grillon

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December 27, 2011, 05:51PM

Thanks, Meena- will do!

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Ranyee Chiang's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Ranyee Chiang

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January 07, 2012, 10:02PM

Education of all types is near and dear to me, so I really like this concept. There is already a large community of OpenIDEO entrepreneurs doing the types of things that are described in this concept. It would be great to get students connected with entrepreneurs through this collaboration system that is already set up. Maybe there can be a separate section for student contributions. Or another idea is to have OpenIDEO members partner with students to serve as mentors and to facilitate the students to link with the larger OpenIDEO community. So I'm proposing that OpenIDEO can be used to facilitate the implementation of this concept.

There are many programs that bring together scientists and teachers to improve science teaching in classrooms. Those would be a good source of inspiration. I particularly like the Science and Health Education Partnership between the University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco Public Schools. http://biochemistry.ucsf.edu/programs/sep/ (Full disclosure: I was a volunteer and instructor with them for several years.) They do a number of things that would be interesting to think about for this concept. The scientists and teachers are partnered - each has a role in improving science education. They hold professional development activities so that teachers can become better scientists and scientists can become better teachers, and so that teachers and scientists can partner more effectively together. They have an extensive resource center that loans out materials to teachers and scientists working throughout the Bay Area.

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Natalie Grillon's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Natalie Grillon

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January 09, 2012, 02:56PM

Ranyee- thank you! This is really helpful. First, I love integrating OpenIDEO into the concept as a part of the student curriculum. I think this would be a great process for them to engage in and help their idea generation to expand and become critical thinkers. Second, I will definitely check out the program above right now and see what might be applicable to a program like this.

Thanks, again!

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Natalie Grillon's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Natalie Grillon

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January 09, 2012, 03:52PM

Hey Ranyee- the Pathways program for middle and high school looks like a format that might work for the collaboration between the teachers and the entrepreneurs- what do you think?

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Ranyee Chiang's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Ranyee Chiang

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January 09, 2012, 08:20PM

That program would definitely be a good format. There are also elementary school programs that are quite similar in how they bring teachers and scientists together to develop lessons and teach. Is your vision to focus on middle school and high school? I see many opportunities to build the fundamentals of entrepreneurship in elementary school, so I definitely consider that age group as well. And are you thinking about a suite of programs that focus on K-12, college, and beyond, or a specific age group? Or maybe focusing on specific groups and then expanding as the concept progresses?

Another interesting model is the CityScience Program, where experienced teachers and scientist-instructors teach summer workshops for teachers. It's a way to quickly expand the impact of the program, since each teacher then goes on to work with dozens of students each year. Followup after the workshops have been key to making sure teachers are successful.

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Joe DeLoss

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December 29, 2011, 05:36PM

Here's a great precedent from Texas - http://lemonadeday.org. I spoke to them at one point about bringing it to my locale and it seems like they've met some tremendous results.

Maybe a good starting point.

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Natalie Grillon's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Natalie Grillon

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January 09, 2012, 06:17PM

Hey Joe,

I just looked at their website and I see a definite possibility to borrow some of their curriculum and potential collaboration. Thanks for the tip!

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Tim Hess

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January 07, 2012, 11:42PM

I was just thinking to myself today about how the education system here in the US teaches students that if they take classes and get a diploma the next logical step is to go and ask other people for a job. Alternatively, shouldn't we be teaching students to take on the mindset of being productive and meeting a need in their community, whether it means building something or providing a service. We should be teaching students to be productive rather than teaching them to be employees. This idea sounds like a good way to head in that direction.

"Entrepreneur" seems to most often be used to describe the people that have innovative or unique business or ideas. However, I think the EiR can also be used to help foster more conventional trades like cabinet makers or restaurants. We should be training people to create value with the skills that they have.

I think this idea has a lot of potential. Good work!

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Natalie Grillon's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Natalie Grillon

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January 09, 2012, 02:49PM

Tim- EXACTLY what I was thinking. I look back at my education and wonder why the path of an "entrepreneur" was never introduced- even in the trade context, as you said, opening your own restaurant, being a photographer, or building furniture or cabinets seems now in retrospect to have been looked down upon, when for many of the students this may have been the best fit for them and their community.

Would you mind if I took some of what you wrote above and inserted it into my paragraph?

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Tim Hess's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Tim Hess

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January 09, 2012, 03:20PM

I wouldn't mind at all! Use whatever helps.

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Eddie Lee

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January 08, 2012, 02:53PM

Love this idea! It is really back to basic. Some add-on can be considered.

First, we can trace back the passion of the city in past 30 years. Tracing back the history of every city, and find the most profound wisdom that well kept in the city’s senior citizens and professionals. These are the gems of the city – the wisdom of the industry (for example, Detroit on carmaker industry).

Next, setup the EinR program focus on the area of innovation for that particular industry’s eco-system.

EinR can invite international scholars who are passionate about the industry to migrate to the city and participate in the development program with the mentorship from the senior professionals available in the city.

By combining the knowledge, knowhow and wisdom of the professionals, and out-of-the-box creativity of the young talents, I believe it will able to spark new innovations surrounding on that industry.

To keep it simple, it is similar to the Y-Combinator is for internet startup, the EinR program is focus to encourage and nurture entrepreneurs focus on city’s forte by tapping into knowledge and wisdom of the available professionals staying in the city.

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Natalie Grillon's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Natalie Grillon

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January 09, 2012, 02:44PM

Eddie,

I really like this idea of tapping into the city's "forte" and passion. One thing I'm wondering- how do we balance that history and foundational start with the diverse range of interests of the students. I see the program encouraging students now matter what they are excited about and I don't want to pigeon hole them, yet at the same time recognize the opportunity to tap into a strength the area already has.

Any ideas?

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OpenIDEO

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January 05, 2012, 09:41PM

Hi Natalie, great work on this Top 20 concept! We were especially excited about the idea that entrepreneurs could serve as role models for young people. During Refinement, let's think about how to build this idea even further, perhaps looking for inspiration at some of the entrepreneurship coming out of post-Katrina New Orleans? This inspiration could be a nice place to start http://bit.ly/AEdUki . Also, let's consider what the funding model might be for this kind of initiative - who might we envision backing this and why?

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Brian Redondo

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January 05, 2012, 05:46AM

This is a really interesting idea. I think the real world application of classroom lessons would invigorate learning and inspire a lot of students. I would love to see the EinR actually work to implement entrepreneurship into curricula so that students make their ideas real. The emphasis should also be to create socially responsible enterprises that can perhaps address some needs in the students' own communities. This may spur them to think critically about changing their cities and inspire new solutions. I see this as a combination between service learning and entrepreneurship. College students do it (entrepreneurship: http://34st.com/2008/09/node-4564/?wpmp_switcher=mobile, service learning: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/2011-05-05/research/rapid-rise-service-learning). Why not start younger?

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Arjan Tupan

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December 26, 2011, 08:50AM

Interesting concept, Natalie. I have a suggestion. I think you can start this up with lower costs. Why not try and find an entrepreneur amongst the parents at the school and ask him/her to participate? Using their network could also be good. I think many entrepreneurs could be willing to do this for free, especially when their children are in the school.

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Natalie Grillon's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Natalie Grillon

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December 27, 2011, 05:59PM

I think this is an interesting idea, Arjan and something I had considered as well. I definitely think to start out it might be a way to get things moving in the school. It would also certainly lower costs.

My concern is that in communities facing economic decline we have to consider the situation of the parents themselves and some questions arise for me in thinking through the implementation- are the parents entrepreneurs? Are they struggling themselves in a declining community? and are they trained to engage students as they'll need to? What are the schools like and will the program suffer if the parent isn't available? When I think of a entrepreneur parent in a declining economy I worry about their time commitments. What do you think?

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Adriana Valdez Young's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Adriana Valdez Young

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December 29, 2011, 09:01AM

I think Arjan makes an important point here. It would be great to get parents involved. Maybe the school can offer evening/weekend entrepreneurship workshops to parents so that they can support and relate to their child's curriculum, while also applying what they learn to improve their economic prospects in the short term.

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Arjan Tupan's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Arjan Tupan

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December 29, 2011, 10:18AM

In my experience of living in a country now with an economy in decline, is that the entrepreneurs are very willing to share their time and effort. And all it takes is a few. Often, those that are willing to do this, are also very capable of doing it, getting it off the ground and engaging others.

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Adriana Valdez Young's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Adriana Valdez Young

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December 29, 2011, 10:44AM

I've had the same experience in NYC and Providence, where local entrepreneurs and business leaders donate their time for free. Whereas in better economic times, they gave cash donations, now they are more keen to donate their time and expertise.

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Natalie Grillon's reply to Ashutosh Biltharia's comment

Natalie Grillon

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December 30, 2011, 04:41AM

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm going to think about it and incorporate your suggestions in. Much appreciated!

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OpenIDEO

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December 28, 2011, 08:17PM

Congrats on this post being today's Featured Concept!

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