Finalist

Community Engagement Initiative of the Year Award

Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Fellowship on Entrepreneurship

Finalist of the Community Engagement Initiative of the Year Award

Dunin-Deshpande Queen's Innovation Centre (DDQIC) - Canada

"Empowering the Next Generation of African Entrepreneurs "


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Summary

For over a decade, the Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre (DDQIC) at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada has committed to fostering entrepreneurship education, grounded in the belief that everyone has the potential for creative problem-solving to positively impact society. DDQIC has designed an entrepreneurship curriculum and innovative programs with validated success helping aspiring innovators globally. In 2020, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, DDQIC identified that more employment opportunities were needed to meet the demands of Africa’s booming workforce and that DDQIC’s proven entrepreneurship curriculum was an effective solution for transforming job seekers into job creators. DDQIC used its expertise to launch the Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Fellowship on Entrepreneurship (JLMCF), a low-cost, virtual training program that leverages accessible online learning technologies at scale to help university students and recent graduates in Africa create business ventures. Through program evaluation, participants have reported impacts including increased entrepreneurial mindset, job creation, revenue generation, and life satisfaction. After 3 years of programming, JLMCF engaged over 3800 African leaders of tomorrow. To scale these impacts, DDQIC has started partnering with African institutions to build embedded capacity and expertise to continue supporting the next generation of African entrepreneurs and developing local economies. For example, in 2022, DDQIC provided curriculum and consultation to five partner institutions in Ghana including the Community and Entrepreneurial Development Initiative. The institutions collectively launched EJobs4All in January 2023, a program that is training 1000 Ghanaian entrepreneurs in its pilot year.

Key People


Megan Sieroka
Program Coordinator
Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre ,  Queen’s University



Norman Musengimana
Business Development Manager – Start-ups and Entrepreneurship
Kingston Economic Development Corporation



Greg Bavington
Executive Director
Queen’s University,  Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre



James McLellan
Academic Director
Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre ,  Queen’s University



Joanna Tinus
Program and Community Manager
Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre ,  Queen’s University



Chloe Beisheim
Program and Outreach Manager
Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre ,  Queen’s University



Bruna Guarino Moraes
Program Coordinator
Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre ,  Queen’s University



Paige Kasaboski
Finance and Operations Coordinator
Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre ,  Queen’s University



Virginia Sytsma
Program Coordinator
Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre ,  Queen’s University



Jennifer Stefanopoulos
Program Coach
Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre ,  Queen’s University



Jegaveerpandian Rajendran
Program Coach
Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre ,  Queen’s University



Scott Michael Gingrich
Program Coach
Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre ,  Queen’s University



Justin Mosbey
Program Coach
Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre ,  Queen’s University



Karla Coleman
Educational Technology Advisor
Centre for Teaching and Learning ,  Queen’s University



Selina Idlas
Educational Technology Innovation Specialist
Centre for Teaching and Learning ,  Queen’s University


Acknowledgements

The DDQIC would like to acknowledge the Mastercard Foundation, without whose funding this program would not be possible. We would also like to thank the work of the JLMCF Program Coaches and volunteer Mentors, who work hard every day to ensure that the founders and startups in the program are able to work through the materials and build scalable and impactful ventures. We are grateful to Queen’s IT Services, Queen’s Financial Servies, and the Centre for Teaching and Learning who enable crucial technology and financial administration aspects of the program. We would also like to thank the lecturers and entrepreneurs who provided their knowledge and expertise which were key in developing the learning materials for the program.

Images

Joan Bayega, founder of DMB Translation Services, delivers her final pitch in the August 2022 competition where she was awarded $15,000 CAD. DMB is developing a sign language translation application and other cutting edge solutions for Ugandans with disabilities.

Hya Bioplastics, co-founded by Dennis SSekimpi and Mark Musinguzi, was able to purchase manufacturing equipment with their seed funding to create and sell hemp-based packaging, a sustainable alternative to plastic packaging used in grocery markets.

Kingsley Pinkrah, JLMCF 2021 Fellow, announces the launch of EJobs4All, a spin-off program that will train 1000 Ghanaian aspiring entrepreneurs in its pilot year.

Moreplex is a social enterprise that trains women in rural areas of Ghana to produce and market soap products.

Rose Chimilila, founder of Chimi Fresh Produce, an agribusiness to reduce post-harvest losses, at a speaking engagement.

Patience Nyaruwanga, founder of Community Skills Development & Advancement Center

Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Fellowship on Entrepreneurship 2022 Virtual Graduation Ceremony

Mr. Neat, founded in Accra, Ghana by Duncan Asamoah, is providing car detailing services and a line of waste-free car wash products, being showcased by staff.

Mr. Neat Founder, Duncan Asamoah, in taro farm, where they segment the waste produced by the car cleaning products into organic components used to fertilize taro crops.

Mr Neat Cycle Detailed

IMPACT STORY

Impacting lifes

Duncan Asamoah was studying Biochemistry at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana when he dreamed of developing a business where nothing goes to waste. Duncan was accepted into JLMCF in January 2021. Through training videos and guidance from his Program Coach, he developed his company called Mr. Neat, earning a spot in the final phase of the program. “I didn‘t have a dime to start my venture but used the $500CAD Fellowship stipend to develop my first 40 bottles of car shampoo,” said Duncan. He sold the car shampoo in traffic jams as he walked home from university classes and used the revenue to produce another 110 bottles that he sold to shops. Mr. Neat has since expanded to employ 3 salespeople and to add new products to their line. They purchased equipment to launch a mobile car detailing service that uses their cleaning products. In June 2022, Mr. Neat used profits to purchase land with the vision of farming taro crops, a business seemingly unrelated to car detailing. The company is segmenting the waste produced by the cleaning products into organic components used to fertilize taro crops. Plastic packaging is traded with recycling companies. They have coined this operational process the “NEAT CYCLE,” a system bringing together manufacturing, service, waste management, and agriculture for social benefit. Duncan became a JLMCF mentor and now Program Coach, and is the first person in the history of Ghana National Service to complete his service year at his own venture.

LEARNINGS

Lessons learned

The fellowship’s proven curriculum leverages design and systems thinking, with a focus on early customer validation, and was developed by an interdisciplinary team of entrepreneurs, business strategists, and Queen's faculty. The program promotes teamwork and recruits students from all academic disciplines. Its intensive resources, including the stipend and seed funding, are reserved to the most committed and dedicated founders through a rigorous pitch process. Seed funding is disbursed on a budget and reimbursement basis, which helps founders develop the skills to properly manage limited funds and receive continuous coaching on appropriate business expenses. We hire alumni as program coaches and mentors who can provide contextually relevant support and suggest continuous improvements to the program design. We have weekly office hours to increase face-to-face interactions between the students, Program Coaches, and Mentors. Students can attend over 26 different office hour timeslots, with a total of over 35 hours of availability per week. We implement universal design principles in the design of the online course, with solutions for low internet accessibility, language barriers, disability-related barriers, and more. We have introduced additional measures to drive collaboration between the 1500+ students by placing them into networking groups based on venture themes and connecting them if they are well suited for team formation. Overall, we have learned that combining education with small amounts of money directed at the most committed and ambitious people can be highly impactful to their lives and the economies of their communities and countries.

FUTURE PLANS

What's coming?

The connections made through JLMCF have enabled DDQIC to further grow its impact in Africa and develop partnerships with many different organizations. The EJobs4All project was launched in January 2023, as a spin-out program from JLMCF that provides free online entrepreneurship training from the DDQIC and advisory services from Canadian business experts in the Leadogo Incorporated network to 1000 participants. This project, led by the Community and Entrepreneurial Development Initiative (CEDI) Ghana in partnership with the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, JACCD Design Institute Africa, and Data Link University, aims to address poverty and youth unemployment in Ghana and is being driven by a JLMCF 2021 Alumni.

In the future, DDQIC will increase capacity in partner institutions across Africa by executing on 6 new partnership MOUs that have been developed. Each partnership provides training and resources to help embed "know-how" in African institutions themselves so they can offer their own entrepreneurship and incubation programming in a contextually relevant way. Mentorship networks as well as financing are key to developing generative entrepreneurship ecosystems, so part of the capacity-building projects will include expanding our Global Network of mentors to key African regions. For example, DDQIC plans to add a Nairobi node to its Global Mentor Network through university partnerships in Kenya to support African entrepreneurs with industry connections. These next efforts will focus on catalysing the collective action of institutions across Africa to scale entrepreneurship opportunities to millions of youth and drive economic and social impact.

KEY STATISTICS

3800

In 3 years, the program has engaged over 3800 students.

276

In 3 years, the program has engaged students in 276 universities.

49

In 3 years, the program has engaged students across 49 countries.

$117,000 CAD

In 2 years, the program has awarded over $117,000 CAD to African founders and their ventures.

308

Jobs created in 2022, 230 being youth. 78% of the participants indicated that their venture hired at least 1 youth since starting the program.

100%

Increase in participants indicating that they had paying customers from pre to post program.

50%

Accepted 50% more applicants for 2023 than for 2022 (1500 vs 1000)

50%

Over 50% women representation in the two last phases of the program in 2022.

30%

Increase in active users from 2021 (1252 admitted, 607 active) to 2022 (1071 admitted, 805 active) and a 17% increase from 2021-2022!

160

By 2022, the program supported 160 startups

97%

In 2022, 97% or participants thought the program was “very” or “extremely” helpful in furthering their venture, which was a 10% increase from 2021.

6

Partnership MOUs with institutions across Africa to build and increase embedded capacity.

Triple E Awards

The Triple E Awards are a global recognition of efforts toward the quest for entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education. It is the first award to focus specifically on different dimensions of the universities' third mission. Implemented regionally, the Triple E Awards aim to foster change in universities and to emphasize their role in their communities and ecosystems.

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