Programs & Projects

WDI is a founding partner of the Michigan Academy for Developing Entrepreneurs (MADE), along with Poornatha Foundation in India and the Zell Lurie Institute at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. MADE was established to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in low-and middle-income countries through local Entrepreneur Development Organizations (EDOs). MADE connects the resources of the University of Michigan (U-M) with the EDOs in the field and provides other support to EDOs that is based on the EDOs’ needs. MADE has involved students and/or faculty from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, psychology department, Institute for Social Research, Stamps School of Art and Design, Law School and School of Education.

Private Equity Support (PES – Kenya)

Assessed PES’ value among SME clients to inform PES’ value proposition, future strategy, and marketing execution.

Poornatha (India)

MADE supported the Poornatha team to develop a B2C Sales & Marketing Strategy. The MAP team provided Poornatha with recommendations on the entrepreneur-type to target including product bundling and pricing. Poornatha is already successfully operating in the B2B segment where it serves clients of India Bank and operators of retail electronic outlets through its ‘Empower’ training program. To date, Poornatha has trained over 1,700 SME owners across 9 states in 7 different languages in India.

Korn Rise (Vietnam)

Working with a new potential partner, a team of MBA students developed a market entry strategy for starting an EDO in Vietnam as part of the MADE network in partnership with Poornatha. The students also conducted a financial analysis and market analysis to identify potential market opportunities and include financial projections with the strategic plan.