In Eager Anticipation.
Particularly those speakers and organizers that had not been part of the first module, me included, were quite excited to start our first day on Monday. The participants were just as eager and motivated and seem to be a really good crowd.
Edith and Jude are planning the week
Following a presenting of the plan for the week, we held a plenum discussion, particularly in order to trigger expectations for the week. After brainstorming among the speakers over lunch, we formed to groups, with 13 and 14 participants each. Peter and Edith’s group is catering to the start-ups. The other group is with Goetz and Sebastian, who will cater to the more advanced entrepreneurs. It is fascinating to see how the entrepreneurs inhale the topics and interactively formulate and structure the components of their businesses. Even though some business ideas experience a lot of hurdles when they meet reality, we do our best to motivate each entrepreneur to learn from it, to improve and progress.
Next Challenge: Refining Business Plans
Our second day is best described by the word ‘challenging’. Challenging to the extent of mental exhaustion. Sounds cruel? Yes, we demanded a lot from the participants. We hardly offered structures, concepts, or a road map of how to get to your business plan, but instead made our entrepreneurs find their way by themselves. Not because we are chaotic, but because we know that we can only guide the participants for a very limited amount of time. Thus it is even more important that each person has the confidence to rely on their own skills and the experience to solve problems and adjust their road map themselves.
Business Planning
At the end of the day, everybody had made it. The participants worked on their own mapping, right to our goal: challenging your business. The individual business plans are not elaborated enough to present to an investor the day after tomorrow, but they have the structure to proceed in a logic and profound way. On Wednesday we dedicated out time to concluding the business plans, while Thursday is reserved for a special session to cater to the individual needs of the business, for instance in design, product development and IT coaching.
From a speakers perspective I can say that we are happy and excited to give all we can. It is great to accompany the group throughout the week and monitor each person’s progress. We are already growing together and I appreciate the great trust and friendship towards us ‘teachers’. At the same time, I love to work with such inspiring and ambitious entrepreneurs.
From Haiti,
Edith
Haiti Entrepreneurship Camp 