Center of Evidence-based Entrepreneurship Development (CEED)

Welcome to the CEED newsletter, covering the latest news on the Student Training for Entrepreneurial Promotion (STEP) and Personal Initiative (PI) Training!

This newsletter informs you on a quarterly basis about current events, projects, and the implementation of both our training programs STEP and PI. On top of sharing news from our side, we would like to encourage you to contribute to this newsletter so that we can establish it as a medium for mutual updates. Because just like us, you’re gaining valuable experiences with the training programs. In fact, you run great projects that always amaze us and that the whole community should know about!

We would like to share successful STEP and PI implementations. If you are interested in also presenting your successful training implementation, please contact us via our CEED e-mail.

Topics of this Newsletter

• Awards: Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research
• Kenya: New Cohort of PI Trainers Empowers Youth in Limuru
• South Korea: Empowering South Korean Women Entrepreneurs
• Mozambique: Large-Scale Implementation Proceeds
• Malawi: Pilot Trainings to Be Expected After TTT
• Lesotho: STEP x PI to Address Gender-Based Violence
• Further Announcements

Prof. Michael Frese receives the prestigious Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research

We are delighted to congratulate Professor Michael Frese on receiving the prestigious Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research. Chair of the Prize Committee, Ivo Zander, shared the exciting news, celebrating Professor Frese's remarkable contributions to the psychology of entrepreneurship. The award, jointly granted to Prof. Frese and Prof. Robert Baron, recognises their groundbreaking work on the psychological foundations of entrepreneurship, an area that is critical to understanding and promoting entrepreneurial endeavours worldwide.

Established in 1996, the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research aims to highlight and promote outstanding research in entrepreneurship and small business development. The award, which has previously been presented to eminent scholars such as Israel Kirzner, William J. Baumol and Saras Sarasvathy, now adds Prof. Frese's name to its distinguished list of recipients. Prof. Frese's recognition underscores the significance of his contributions, not only in advancing theory, but also in shaping policy and practice worldwide.

Prof. Frese’s efforts in evidence-based entrepreneurship, including mindset training for personal initiative, have had a significant impact on economic activity, particularly in low- and middle-income regions. With nearly 200 peer-reviewed articles and numerous books and book chapters, Prof. Frese's scholarly impact is undeniable, as reflected in his impressive citation metrics and prestigious affiliations. move Entrepreneurship Training Institute gGmbH (move eti) is particularly pleased with this news and feels honoured to base its work on Prof. Frese's extensive research. As our scientific advisor, his insights and findings directly inform and shape our daily activities, reinforcing our commitment to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation.

Professor Frese's ongoing commitment to supporting entrepreneurs and advancing our comprehension of entrepreneurship pleases us tremendously. We congratulate him once again and look forward to the official ceremony of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research in May in Stockholm.

If you want to read more about the award follow this link to the official website.

South Korea: Empowering South Korean Women Entrepreneurs

In collaboration with The Asia Foundation, Alex Glosenberg worked with a group of women in South Korea from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some of these women were pre-existing entrepreneurs while other were in the startup phase. After participating in a Train-the-Trainer PI session, several women banded together to form an association known as the Personal Initiative Women’s Association (PIWA) to spread PI to other women in South Korea. In addition, multiple trainers and trainees worked together to capture their learning and reflection on the training in a book now published in Korean. Each chapter includes thoughts and reflections from different entrepreneurs on the importance of PI to entrepreneurship and their broader lives. Alex Glosenberg wrote a foreword to this book – giving homage to Prof. Michael Frese for initiating and spreading PI training internationally. More information on this project can be found here. For questions, please contact Alex Glosenberg at: alexander.glosenberg@lmu.edu.

Kenya: New Cohort of PI Trainers Empowers Youth in Limuru

In December 2023 the cohort of PI trainers in Kenya was expanded by 15 after a Train-the-Trainer workshop (TTT) was held at St. Paul’s University in Limuru, set in the tea country just north of Nairobi. The TTT was organized in partnership with St. Paul’s University community church, CMS-Africa, and Karura Community Chapel and facilitated by Master Trainer Shona Passfield.

Pastors Rachel and Joseph Ribero were instrumental in arranging the logistics and undertaking recruitment of the trainers and trainees. In addition to the trainers, 30 trainees primarily drawn from the youth in Kabuku participated in the second week of the PI Training. 

Pastor Rachel described the training as follows. “The design and approach [...] can only be described as revolutionary. Unlike our usual approach based on a lecture or sermon, the facilitator introduces concepts to the trainees and allows them to venture deeply into it through discussions, exercise, presentations and practical examples that the trainees can relate to. This allows the trainee to actually address the issues affecting their enterprises on their own without too much pushing by someone else. With tens of thousands of graduates already in the labour market today, it should come as a relief that the PI Training will further equip and orient them on path to being business owners, consultants and employers, regardless of their academic and social background.”

After the training, the PI trainers banded together into a committee and are active in expanding the training activity with St. Paul’s University and the Community Church, CMS-Africa, and Karura Community Chapel to create a greater reach into the communities in Kenya. 

Feedback from one of the trainees: “The PI Training is an eye-opening and self-assuring experience that I believe will enable individuals take a step of faith and venture into business.”

Mozambique: Large-scale implementation proceeds

We're delighted to announce the successful completion of the first two of ten PI Train-the-Trainer workshops, organised by move-eti as part of a large-scale project in Mozambique’s regions of Nampula, Tete, Pemba and Maputo. This marks a significant milestone in our fruitful collaboration with the World Bank and the Mozambican Ministry of Economy and Finance.

In cooperation with the Ministry and our partners, move-eti is training and certifying a new cohort of Mozambican PI trainers who will take on the important role of training over 10,000 Mozambicans. The project targets one governmental and two entrepreneurial cohorts. One entrepreneurial cohort is focused on 1,000 firms linked upstream (B2B), aiming to boost large investments, the other is dedicated to 9,000 consumption linkage firms (B2C) including informal and new firms with a high percentage of female ownership and climate-friendly solutions.

As move-eti, we are thrilled about the opportunity to provide targeted training solutions to a diverse range of beneficiaries, making a significant contribution to the global impact of PI training. We are eagerly looking forward to the next phase of this journey as we prepare for the remaining eight PI Train-the-Trainer workshops.

For more information, please visit move-eti at: www.move-eti.com.

Malawi: Pilot trainings to be expected after TTT

We conducted a STEP Train-the-Trainer Workshop in Malawi from February 12^th to 16^th. Over the course of five days, we had the pleasure to train twelve new STEP trainers from Malawi and Zambia. Participants were lecturers from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kwarme Nkrumah University, Copperbelt University, Mukuba University, Kabwe Institute of Technology, Mzuzu University, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, University of Lilongwe, and teachers from Bwaila Secondary School. In addition, Constance Kantema (STEP Focal Point Malawi) and Mukwalikuli Mundia (STEP Focual Point Zambia) continued their journey towards becoming a STEP Master Trainer.

All new STEP trainers are now in the process of conducting pilot trainings at their institutions. We are very exited about STEP being implemented across the two countries and would like to thank everyone involved for their ongoing efforts!

For further information, please contact Janina Peschmann at: janina.peschmann@leuphana.de.

Lesotho: STEP-PI Training for 5,000 beneficiaries in rural areas

Together with our local partners CRS, Caritas Lesotho, and Dunamus, we (Doorways gGmbH) are developing a training curriculum that combines elements from both the Personal Initiative Training and the STEP Training for 5,000 beneficiaries in rural areas of Lesotho. The training will also address gender relationships with a special focus on Gender Based Violence.

The project is part of the Economic Inclusion Program of the Pathways to Sustainable Livelihoods Project of the Ministry of Social Development. The project is split into two phases, with 2,500 trainees being trained this year and a further 2,500 trainees in 2025. In addition to participating in the training program, the trainees will also receive coaching and mentoring support as well as a cash grant of $300-$400.

In late February, we made our first field visit to meet with the local authorities in the five different councils where the project will be implemented. We further met with a group of potential trainees of the project to better understand the realities on the ground and the problems they are facing with starting and managing a business. Based on the learnings from the field visit, we are currently adjusting the training materials to train the local trainers in two Train-the-Trainer workshops in early May. The trainers will then deliver the training to the beneficiaries of the project.

Further Announcements

We are pleased to announce that since the beginning of 2024, we have started our project Sustainable Entrepreneurship Courses for Under- and Postgraduate Students under the funding SDG Partnerships 2024-2027 of the DAAD. Together with our three partner universities, Godfrey Okoye University (Nigeria), Mount Kenya University (Kenya), and University of Venda (South Africa), we will further develop, implement, and evaluate our STEP Sustainability Training over the next four years. Our goal is to integrate STEP Sustainability at our partner universities in the long term.

For further information on the Center of Evidence Based Entrepreneurship Development, past succes stories and the most important publications, please visit the Website of CEED.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your feedback and thoughts to ceed@leuphana.de.

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