There are fervent entrepreneurs out there, hungry for your entrepreneurial knowledge. Business Bridge, a not-for-profit organisation, is attempting to start a movement which enables experienced business people, entrepreneurs and business school alumni, the opportunity to share their knowledge on aspects related to starting and running a business, with entrepreneurs in historically disadvantaged communities.
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Founded by Professor Michael Hay at London Business School, Business Bridge developed a scalable model for delivering high quality, low cost business education to thousands of people for whom access is otherwise denied due to cost or lack of local provision.
The initiative aims to help bridge the divide between communities and create vital networks through which entrepreneurs are encouraged and supported to become the business and community leaders which low income areas so desperately need. Business Bridge has created the framework, but it relies entirely on knowledgeable volunteers from various industries to make a difference.
Business Bridge is seeing traction, having now trained over 200 entrepreneurs — around 50% of whom have been women — and is reporting positive change. On average, revenues have increased by around 26%, and employee numbers by 29%. Based on this success, Business Bridge has been given the opportunity to work with a research team from London Business School and the World Bank, to rigorously test the impact of its courses.
If you’d like to get involved, Business Bridge is currently running two courses, How to Win Sales and Managing Money. Each course is eight modules long, with each module lasting four hours and delivered once a week over eight weeks. Training is augmented by online learning.
“This innovative approach to both delivery and tutoring will have a massive impact, creating sustainable employment generating businesses. All we ask is a minimum of two sessions from our tutors, although we are obviously delighted if they wish to give more time than that,” says Tom Parry, Head of Education & Training at Business Bridge.
If you’ve ever wanted to have a ground roots impact on fostering Africa’s entrepreneurial growth, or simply wanted to make a difference in someone’s life, take a closer look at Business Bridge.
