WDI’s work is driven by creating knowledge and disseminating it — contributing to a global conversation. Since its creation in 1992, WDI’s Education Initiative has put this vision into action, training more than 16,000 practitioners from more than 8,000 organizations, including corporations, governments, nonprofits and universities. By collaborating with a variety of partners, the initiative team has helped these practitioners to improve their business acumen, develop robust entrepreneurship curricula for in-country partner institutions and coach university faculty members to deliver entrepreneurship training. The Institute’s relationship with the University of Michigan enables it to harness the latest thinking in education and business and integrate this into emerging markets through training and consulting programs. These programs, led by top experts from U-M and other international business schools, are designed with the input of specialists with deep local insight. WDI has crafted custom training for many multinational companies – from Oracle and Whirlpool to U.S. Steel and Dell, among others. Participants have benefitted from cutting-edge online tools that prepare them for in-person training and help them apply their new knowledge once they’re back on the job. Working with small business owners and nonprofits across the developing world, the Institute’s Education Initiative team designs and delivers programs that improve the business skills of managers and entrepreneurs. In this way, WDI both supports local enterprises and fosters broader economic development. Over the past quarter century, the results of this work have become clear — more new businesses are founded, more established enterprises reach the next level and many lives are transformed. Education WDI Faculty Affiliate and U-M Ross Professor John Branch leads a module on marketing at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. 25th Anniversary 23