WDI works with the Weiser Center for Europe & Eurasia (WCEE) at U-M to offer NGO Leadership workshops to non-profit leaders from across central and southeastern Europe. The workshop in Slovakia covers marketing, strategic planning, entrepreneurship, fundraising and management to help NGOs run more effectively and sustainably. In 2024, the spring NGO Leadership workshop will be held in June in partnership with Bratislava-based partner, Hekima. Twenty five participants will come from Ukraine. Supplementary online modules on topics including leadership, social media marketing, and conflict resolution will be available to participants.
WDI works with the Weiser Center for Europe & Eurasia (WCEE) at U-M to offer NGO Leadership workshops to non-profit leaders from across central and southeastern Europe. The workshop in Bratislava covers marketing, strategic planning, entrepreneurship, fundraising and management to help NGOs run more effectively and sustainably. In 2023, the workshop will be held in June in partnership with Bratislava-based partner, Hekima. Twenty five participants will come from Ukraine. Supplementary online modules on topics including leadership, social media marketing, and conflict resolution will be available to participants.
Small- and medium-sized businesses drive up to 70% of global employment and gross domestic product, and many are started by determined, dedicated entrepreneurs. The economies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are powered by these businesses.
Accompanying the call for entrepreneurship in emerging markets, there’s a call for the knowledge, tools and networks to bolster those businesses. Would-be entrepreneurs working to develop successful companies are seeking the know-how to get there in a more efficient, effective way. After taking part in courses on leadership, communication, and team-building, participants in the Ford Community Impact Fellows Training program — a development program for which the William Davidson Institute (WDI) at the University of Michigan has been creating courses since 2020 — asked for precisely that.
“They really wanted to know the nuts and bolts of entrepreneurship,” said Amy Gillett, Vice President of Education at WDI and co-leader of the Institute’s Entrepreneurship Development Center.
Gillett and David Estrada, Program Coordinator at WDI, created the “Starting a Business: Your Entrepreneurial Journey” course to teach participants the basic skills needed to effectively start their journeys. The 88 students in this summer’s program learned how to identify a need in the market, pitch a business plan, acquire funding, price a product and find a place for it in the market. While at work on the projects, the students were guided by 13 program mentors. These mentors had participated in previous online skills building programs offered by WDI and were eager to now share their knowledge and expertise in a guiding role.
The goal of the course was to set these committed students up for success in the business world by providing a foundation for a new company.
“We gave them an overview of the landscape and the fundamental skills they’d need to take an idea and get started,” Gillett said.
A successful entrepreneurship path is forged by experience — even if someone else lived it first.
Course guest speaker Jakub Zaludko, leader of strategy and projects at Impact Games, explained how he reshaped digital challenges toward commercial aspirations. As a trained political scientist and anthropologist, Zaludko observed how students in his home country of Slovakia were largely disengaged in the classroom, but they were noticeably focused while playing video games at home. Zaludko and his partners offered a solution: games with positive social impact goals. They built an innovative platform to develop games that encourage educational progress, promote freedom, and boost inclusion and equality.
Just as he did in the educational market, Zaludko explored how students can find a gap in their marketplace and build a solution to fill the void. Participants learned from his experience in identifying the community need, navigating the business world and launching a product.
The course content echoed similar lessons on focused solutions, mainly within low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). When developing the class, Gillett and Estrada wanted to be sure that examples and questions were sourced from spaces where students could see their own potential.
“Great ideas emerge everywhere. We don’t have any kind of monopoly in the U.S., which is why we included cases from all over the world when we created the course,” Gillett said.
Participants from nine countries, including China, Hungary, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa and the United States, shared their backgrounds, skills and experiences with one another — all in an effort to grow their business ideas and abilities. Business can’t be built in a vacuum, and engaging relationships are just as critical to the participants’ business development as the lessons themselves.
“To be a successful entrepreneur, you need these connections — and this is a great way to start building or expanding that network, for both participants and mentors,” Gillett said. “With these courses, we are building a global network of learners and entrepreneurs.”
Beyond simply initiating these critical connections, participants were introduced to the deep value of these relationships through their course conversations, projects and group work. “I learned about the value and importance of working as a team to solve problems as they emerge,” said a participant from Nigeria. “Each team member brings a unique set of abilities to the table.”
Ultimately, participants worked together to build a business plan and create a video pitch. Gillett, Estrada, and program mentors evaluated the projects with an eye on how well the teams integrated the course lessons.
The winning pitch was for a personalized, flexible online education company: Explore Online. It highlighted the need for customized tutors on a global level, reviewed a break-even analysis for the business and considered the organization’s value proposition.
The second-place team set out to tackle the problem of teenage pregnancy and motherhood in Kenya. Vijana Artifacts dug deeply into the issue itself in their pitch and shared their solution: viable vocational training for young mothers. They shared their business model, target customers and expected revenue streams.
The Truly Glam Apparel team came in third place. Their business pitch focused on sustainable fashion and explored the gap in the marketplace. Their solution involves turning to local artisans, relying on local production teams, and opening up opportunities for personalized customer experiences.
These pitches pushed students to hone their presentation skills. “I gained a better understanding of how I can present my new project to others,” said a participant from China.
To the participants, this course wasn’t just an academic venture. It was a professional stepping stone. Most participants either had a business plan in mind before starting the class or were excited by one they came up with during the process. For them, these tools are providing the groundwork for a lifetime of entrepreneurship. This is the mission of the Ford Fund.
“Ford Fund is proud to invest in expanding access to entrepreneurship in communities where Ford does business with a focus on providing more widespread access to investment capital and educational resources, partnering with local organizations who share our desire to grow entrepreneurial ecosystems in an impactful way,” said Mike Schmidt, Director of Ford Fund.
Excited by the prospects of a new business, one participant from Kenya said: “My partner and I are on a mission to implement the idea we built during the course. Our next move is to develop a solid business plan and budget, then we’ll approach the necessary funding platforms and apply for grants.”
Buoyed by these positive impacts, the WDI Education team is on its way to creating even more courses for Ford fellows. While it will continue to run the current lessons, a new subject — driven by student suggestions — is on its way for a 2024 launch.
Ford Fund is proud to invest in expanding access to entrepreneurship in communities where Ford does business with a focus on providing more widespread access to investment capital and educational resources, partnering with local organizations who share our desire to grow entrepreneurial ecosystems in an impactful way.
About Ford Motor Company Fund
As the global philanthropic arm of Ford Motor Company, Ford Fund focuses on providing access to essential services, education for the future of work and entrepreneurship opportunities for under-resourced and underrepresented communities. Ford Fund’s partnerships and programming are designed to be responsive to unique community needs, ensuring people have equitable opportunities to move forward. Harnessing Ford’s scale, resources and mobility expertise, Ford Fund drives meaningful impact through grantmaking, Ford Resource and Engagement Centers and employee volunteerism.
About WDI
At the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, unlocking the power of business to provide lasting economic and social prosperity in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is in our DNA. We gather the data, develop new models, test concepts and collaborate with partners to find real solutions that lead to new opportunities. This is what we mean by Solving for Business—our calling since the Institute was first founded as an independent nonprofit educational organization in 1992. We believe societies that empower individuals with the tools and skills to excel in business, in turn generate both economic growth and social freedom—or the agency necessary for people to thrive.
WDI works with the Weiser Center for Europe & Eurasia (WCEE) at U-M to offer NGO Leadership workshops to non-profit leaders from across central and southeastern Europe. The workshops cover strategic planning, resource mobilization, resilience and digital security to help NGOs run more effectively and sustainably.
The walls of a kremlin, or citadel, within the Russian city of Kazan. Image credit.
WDI’s Education Initiative continues to expand global programming and partnerships with a new certificate course for mid- to senior-level managers in the southwest Russian city of Kazan.
The Executive Intensive Learning (EIL) course, delivered in conjunction with Kazan National Research Technical University and TISBI University of Management, is modeled off WDI’s highly successful Strategic Management Program (SMP). The 10-day course, structured as a “mini MBA,” will be held May 22-June 2 at TISBI in Kazan.
The program’s announcement follows the news in February that WDI would deliver the SMP in June in Tbilisi, Georgia for the first time. This program format has been run successfully in Latvia, Croatia and Slovakia for years.
“We’re excited to enter the Russian republic of Tatarstan,” says Amy Gillett, vice president of the Education Initiative at WDI. “This program is coming at an ideal time, as the economy in Kazan is growing, fueled by growth in the IT, banking, and manufacturing sectors. Bringing fresh thinking in leadership and management, and upgrading business skills will help managers grow their organizations and ultimately drive economic growth in the region. Kazan has been growing in prominence in the last decade and in 2009 was officially branded the ‘Third Capital of Russia.’”
The EIL is built on an integrative strategic framework and has modules in strategy, finance, government relations, and human resource management. Featuring lectures, discussions, cases, and exercises, each module session highlights the latest business management theory and fundamental general management principles. Attendees also participate in group work to help their critical thinking, decision-making, and teamwork skills.
Before the course, attendees will participate in an e-learning module on corporate finance designed by WDI to introduce general concepts in order to maximize classroom time at the program.
Additionally, the EIL will use the ExtendEd Portal, the customized online learning management platform developed by WDI, for participants to use before, during, and after the program.
The program will be conducted in English.
The WDI Faculty Affiliates teaching the EIL course are:
They will be joined by two faculty members from Kazan National Research Technical University who will teach government relations and human resource management.
More information please contact Nathan Rauh-Bieri, program coordinator for WDI’s Education Initiative.
Professor Linda Gasser, WDI faculty affiliate and a founder of the Central Europe Human Resource Education Initiative, who led the NGO management session.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the world are facing increased scrutiny and even intimidation by government ministries and regulators in several emerging democracies. Equipping them with the managerial skills and tools they need to advance positive social and political change is critical to their missions, and was the focus of a four-day workshop in Bratislava, Slovakia earlier this month.
WDI, along with the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia at the University of Michigan and the Slovakia-based Pontis Foundation, organized the NGO Leadership Workshop. Twenty-five NGO leaders from 14 countries, including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, participated in several highly interactive sessions during the workshop.
This was the second year WDI partnered with the Weiser Center, which sponsored the event, and the Pontis Foundation to coordinate the NGO Leadership Workshop. It comes at an especially challenging time for many NGOs. As communist regimes fell in Central and Eastern Europe, South Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union, civil society organizations emerged to help support the fledgling democracies in these regions. However, distrust in NGOs has generated new problems for their managers.
“NGOs from across this region are in a particularly difficult position these days,” said Amy Gillett, vice president of WDI’s Education Initiative. “Some of the countries stigmatize them as ‘foreign agents’ — meaning they are an enemy of the state and, therefore, under surveillance. This creates an atmosphere where people in the society do not want to associate with them.”
The NGO Leadership Workshop, held Dec. 6-9, attempted to maximize the effectiveness of the organizations by giving their leaders the necessary skills to properly interact with international partners, government stakeholders and the public. The daily workshop topics were: planning and sustainability of NGOs; essentials of NGO management; marketing strategy for the NGO; and, advocacy and public policy building.
“The changes in the government of these countries cause tremendous stress,” said Professor Linda Gasser, WDI faculty affiliate and a founder of the Central Europe Human Resource Education Initiative, who led the NGO management session. “People need to find ways to mitigate this. The great value in this program is that participants are networking and understanding that there are others experiencing similar things.”
Many workshop participants cited the interaction with faculty members, guest speakers and each other as a key benefit of the program. They plan to remain in contact in the months to come and also will receive additional training through WDI’s interactive ExtendEd portal. This portal, designed and implemented by WDI, guides participants’ learning before, during and after a program, and encourages them to apply this knowledge back at their job.
Another workshop highlight was a presentation on the development of civil society in Slovakia by Martin Butora, who served as that country’s ambassador to the U.S. from 1999-2003. He also was one of the founders of the political movement Public Against Violence, which opposed communist rule in Slovakia.
The presentation was followed by an engaging question-and-answer session with Ron Weiser, former U.S. ambassador to the Slovakia. In 2004, Weiser received the White Double Cross —the highest award given to non-Slovaks — from Slovak President Rudolph Schuster for his work as ambassador.
“Regardless of the countries we come from, we are all experiencing the same problems,” said Nadiia Bureiko, vice head of the Ukraine NGO, Quadrivium. “This program has created a valuable network for future cooperation.”
Stefan Veljkovic, program director of the Kosovo NGO, YEC Synergy, praised the workshop faculty and speakers. He said he learned how to build organizational capacity, recruit people to join a cause and that there are “many ways to get across a message.”
Lenka Surotchak, executive director of the Pontis Foundation, said it might be difficult for someone living in an established democracy to understand the day-to-day fear, struggles and sacrifices of “people fighting for rule of law and attempting to undertake democracy.”
“They do it because they believe in freedom and a better future in their country,” she said. “Interaction with the faculty from one of the renowned U.S. universities, the University of Michigan, the knowledge and belief in their skills, mission and work give them the power and optimism to continue their important job.”
Amy Gillett discusses development through entrepreneurship in an interview on enterprises’ role in alleviating poverty in the newsletter of Education partner Pontis Foundation.
A leadership bootcamp for the directors of 20 NGOs from countries that recently underwent democratic transitions begins Oct. 20. It is sponsored by WDI and the U-M Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia, and aims to make civil society organizations more effective and sustainable.
The training program was recently featured in the University Record campus newspaper. Read the article here.
“We are looking forward to kicking off the NGO Leadership Bootcamp,” said Amy Gillett, vice president of the education initiative at WDI. “Working together with the U-M’s Weiser Center and the Slovak-based Pontis Foundation, we’ve put together a high-impact program that is going to help NGO leaders run their organizations more effectively. There is a great need for this type of training, and we hope this will be the first of many such programs.”
