The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp
September 18-27
2024
Our Entrepreneurship Bootcamp is a comprehensive virtual training for budding entrepreneurs who are at or just entering university. The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp offers a series of dynamic, skills-focused workshops led by industry professionals and academic experts. Each of these are designed to help students develop and articulate a business idea. While the Bootcamp runs, students will network and collaborate with their peers to form teams. These teams implement the workshop concepts to evolve their ideas into comprehensive mock business proposals. The programme culminates in the highlight feature – the Dragons’ Den. In this competition, teams pitch their proposals to a panel of high-level executives, or “Dragons,” from our corporate partners.
Last year we launched our first Bootcamp, with our corporate partner Ford Motor Credit Company. The Bootcamp focused on the theme of sustainability and students overwhelmingly praised the content for being engaging and motivating. You can read more about our pilot below.
Catering to young, ambitious minds from diverse academic backgrounds, this Bootcamp is a melting pot of innovation, strategy, and real-world business skills.
2024 Theme - SDG 5
This year’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp is themed around SDG 5: Gender Equality. As part of this theme, our Bootcamp will include a distinguished keynote speaker (a female venture capital partner), who will discuss the importance of gender equality in business and her reasons for investing in women.
The Bootcamp will also include the thematic workshop – Gender Equality in Business.
What will you learn?
Understand the financial aspects of running a successful business. The Bootcamp covers basic financial concepts such as budgeting, forecasting, financial sustainability and more. You will learn how to to develop a financial model for your business that demonstrates how to allocate resources efficiently, secure funding, and ensure long-term viability and growth of your ventures.
Adopt a problem-solving approach that fosters innovation. The Bootcamp will introduce you to the five stage process to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems, and create innovative solutions to prototype and test. Through this approach you will learn to think about problems from the perspective of your potential users. This ensures your business proposals are appropriately matched with the real needs of your userbase.
Learn to lead with vision and integrity. Guide small teams, make strategic decisions, and motivate others towards achieving a common goal. You will not only learn to lead during the Bootcamp but will attain the leadership qualities necessary for your future entrepreneurial ventures and professional growth.
Adopt the use of technology to drive your ventures to success. This includes understanding the use of Generative AI for design, marketing and copywriting purposes. Learn how tech can be integrated into your business to enhance efficiency and competitiveness.
Master the art of articulating ideas clearly, persuasively and effectively. This includes mastering verbal and written communication skills, developing compelling storytelling techniques, and using data and visuals to support your presentations. The Bootcamp presents the opportunity for you to listen actively, respond thoughtfully to feedback, and engage in meaningful discussions with your peers, and the ‘Dragons’ Den’ panel.
Learn to anticipate and prepare for various future scenarios. Create resilient and flexible strategies with the ability to navigate the uncertainties and complexities of the global market and societal changes. The Bootcamp will train you to identify emerging trends, potential innovations, and risks that could impact your ventures.
Learn how embracing gender equality can give your future business a competitive edge. You’ll explore how gender equality can attract talented individuals to join your venture, boost team morale, and create a positive, inclusive culture from the ground up. Using real-world examples, we’ll demonstrate how gender equality is a smart business strategy that can drive success and growth.
What Will You Gain?
Our Success With Students
Hear from our students
"It gave me practical skills essential for my entrepreneurial journey."
"Every day brought a lesson I can use for life. That's been the most enjoyable part."
"Thank you for giving opportunities to learn and upgrade our skills."
Students from our Pilot Bootcamp
Our Pilot
Our pilot Entrepreneurship Bootcamp was sponsored by Ford Motor Credit Company. The initial programme ran between 20-29th September, 2023 with 80 students and now serves as the foundational model for our current programme.
In the pilot programme, students developed business proposals that addressed issues related to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
At the Dragons’ Den these were presented to two panels of judges composed of executives from Ford Credit. Students who attended 80% of the program were awarded a Certificate of Achievement.
