Babson College Teams Help Shape Entrepreneurs In Rwanda And Ghana

WELLESLEY, Mass., July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Babson College students, alumni, parents and staff are currently leading programs in Sekondi, Ghana and Byimana, Rwanda designed to create more entrepreneurial cultures in these countries. The programs involve teaching students about entrepreneurial thought and action while also training teachers of entrepreneurship to be more effective.

Led by Vice Provost and Graduate School Dean Dennis Hanno, the Babson teams are offering the Babson Entrepreneurial Leadership Academy to approximately 100 talented high school students in each country. Students are participating in small, highly-engaged topic sessions on entrepreneurship and leadership skills. The program leads students to develop and deliver a business idea during a final Rocket Pitch Competition, where they compete for prizes and the possibility of seed funding for their idea.

The Academies have now been offered five times in three different African nations and build on more than 10 years of entrepreneurially development work in these countries. The Babson-Rwanda Entrepreneurship Center, established in 2010, assists in the development of entrepreneurs throughout Rwanda. Babson has conducted numerous programs in Ghana, including an annual program that teaches entrepreneurship to thousands of high school students and brings them together for a regional business plan competition.

New this year, the Babson team will work with high school entrepreneurship teachers to create a national Babson-Rwanda Entrepreneurship Educators Network. Formed in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the Rwanda Education Board, members of the network will receive training in Babson's unique approach to teaching entrepreneurship, ongoing support and access to teaching materials and other resources. Entrepreneurship is a required course in all secondary schools in Rwanda and through the network Babson hopes to help create and shape thousands of future entrepreneurs in the country.

Follow the efforts and activities of the Babson teams via Hanno's Twitter feed: @dhanno

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds(tm). The College is a dynamic living and learning laboratory, where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society -- while at the same time evolving our methods and advancing our programs. We shape the leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to create economic and social value. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought and Action(r) as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value. For information, visit www.babson.edu.

SOURCE Babson College