Virtual incubators (click for more)

The University of Johannesburg's Technology Transfer Office support innovators in the commercial implementation of novel technologies or business processes. One of their important initiatives is an Incubation and Acceleration program for both students and staff of the University who are engaged in innovation.

They support the incubatees in a number of ways - one of which is to offer them best practice tools and training in the key stages of venture development. This program: Switch-On is the venture team that is still refining their ideas, getting to grips with the problems they are solving and getting to an understanding of their potential customer base.

This program provides education, tools, examples and development support for a number of critical steps in the venture development process. The program will continually be refined and updated, but the initial modules are detailed in the table below:

The program is open to all registered in the incubator program and other student startups approved by the UJ Technology Transfer Office.

For more information on access to the program contact:

Simon Gifford (Mashauri) at simon.gifford@mashauri.org; or

Vuyisile Phehane (UJ TTO), at vphehane@uj.ac.za

The University of Johannesburg's Technology Transfer Office support innovators in the commercial implementation of novel technologies or business processes. One of their important initiatives is an Incubation and Acceleration program for both students and staff of the University who are engaged in innovation.

They support the incubatees in a number of ways - one of which is to offer them best practice tools and training in the key stages of venture development. This program: Fast-Forward is for the venture team who have demonstrated some evidence of a demand with perhaps some early traction. The founders are looking to confirm their value proposition, define a business model and test the key elements of such

This program provides education, tools, examples and development support for a number of critical steps in the venture development process. The program will continually be refined and updated, but the initial modules are detailed in the table below:

This virtual incubator has been designed for the winners of the Mashauri COVID-19 Idea Competition to develop their ideas further and to begin to further test and build out their ventures.

The Food Science Venture Accelerator has been designed to support students who graduated from the EIT Food GFVP Summer School in June 2019 and wished to continue developing a business idea. The programme design is based on what the students said they wanted in a survey following the event. Only those students who completed the survey will be enrolled on this programme.

It is aimed at supporting both those who wished to continue with the idea they started in the School and those who wished to pursue a new idea. It is anticipated that this programme will act as a bridge between the ending of the School and a number of other activities that EIT Food are launching including a mentoring programme and the Lausanne workshop. Furthermore, this will be useful to those students who are not selected by EIT Food to partake in these events but still wish to pursue an entrepreneurial idea.

Creating a new business can be a life-changing experience for you and potentially all your future customers and employees. However, the road is not easy and requires knowledge, dedication and plenty of hard work.

The objective of the EiR programme is to provide a support platform for aspiring entrepreneurs at Ashoka University to nurture their business ideas in a university environment, having access to networks, mentors, and other fellow entrepreneurs.

With this online programme, Mashauri is supporting this objective through providing the online education and support platform that guides and supports the entrepreneur through the business development process. Basically we provide a map, a compass, some essential tools and a guide to help you along the way.

Further details of the programme can be found at the Ashoka website: EiR

By the end of the EiR programme, students will have developed, tested and validated their business idea in the market, developed a robust business model, crafted a minimum viable product and already have paying customers.

If you would like to design a similar programme for your institution, please contact us at info@mashauri.org for more information.

Many of us were brought up being taught that we should find a good job, do it well and we will be successful. But there are some key flaws to that thinking:

• It is not always easy to find any job – never mind a good one
• If you do find one, success is far from guaranteed and most companies loyalty to their employees does not extend beyond the next economic downturn
• For most of us success is not defined as working for someone else form 9 to 5, 5 days a week and 20 days of holiday a year

There is another story. One that is based on designing your own destiny, not have someone do it for you on their terms. That story is called entrepreneurship.

This course has been designed to introduce you to the concept of entrepreneurship and highlights the benefits (and challenges) of starting your own business. It guides you along the first steps in that journey: developing a winning business idea based on your own needs, competencies and market demand.

When you have finished this programme, you will understand what being an entrepreneur is all about and you will have a clear idea as to what business you want to build.

What’s more, you will have taken that first, all important step to being an owner of your own, successful business.

Course outcome:

By the end of the course, you will:

• understand what it takes to be an entrepreneur and control your own destiny
• have assessed your own ability to be an entrepreneur.
• have selected a sound business idea to develop into a new venture.

Course objectives:

• Based on your exposure to top entrepreneurs discussing their experiences, you will decide whether or not you wish to undertake the journey.
• You will set your overall purpose and goals for your new venture which can then be used to continually direct you in the process
• You will learn the right way to go about selecting a business concept and use this knowledge to select a new venture idea that is right for you, but also reflects the realities of the market.

Timing and contents

• Developing your entrepreneurial mindset
• Generating a viable business idea
  

Each section contains videos, text instructions, assignments and quizzes. The total time required would be about 4 hours if you started and continued without stopping. However, we recommend that you do not rush it, but rather spend time thinking about the content, exploring some of the extra material and putting effort into the assignments. That way you will get maximum benefit from the programme. 

This programme can be run in its standard format or customised for your institution and its context. 

For more information, please contact us at info@mashauri.org.

Find and test your new venture idea

Programme overview

This programme guides the individual students in identifying a business idea to pursue that is appropriate given their requirements and competencies. 

The course includes exposure to the entrepreneurial journey, a series of structured steps to identify multiple opportunities, a multi-criteria decision tool to select the best one and an application that helps them to design and implement a market test.

The final assignment is a video of the student presenting their new business concept.

All Mashauri programmes are based on project-based experiential learning that helps move the student toward developing an entrepreneurial mindset. Not only does this set up the possibility of the student following an entrepreneurial career path; but the cognitive skills developed also will improve their value as a future employee and as such help to differentiate themselves in the market.

Our programmes use gamification techniques and ongoing monitoring to ensure high student engagement.

The course is aimed at students who wish to find out more about entrepreneurship and learn about the process of business idea development. It is applicable to all levels from first year to post-graduate and is appropriate for all faculties.

The programme has been designed to support professors teaching entrepreneurship in the classroom and provides them with a tool that gives the students some hands-on learning and puts into practice some of the things they are learning in class. If the course stretches for a semester or more, this programme can also be linked to some of the other Mashauri courses that takes the student further along the business development process.

In addition, this programme might be run as a stand-alone programme promoted by (for instance) a centre for entrepreneurship and innovation; or even a technology transfer office.

The course runs on the Mashauri platform and the students are guided along the journey with lectures, motivational material, quizzes and assignments. The instructor is given a “mentor” role and is able to track student progress and communicate with students via the platform or offline.

We provide the instructor with clear process maps that help them market the programme, select students, evaluate progress and mark assignments (if required). We also provide material to help the professor hold a live pitching event at the end of the programme.

A teaching note and presentation material that may be used in class (pre-and post-course) are also provided to the instructor.

A Mashauri project manager/mentor will be allocated to support the instructor, monitor the course and give regular report-backs aimed at maintaining high engagement of students.

For more information on the curriculum, content, pricing and supporting material click here:

Craft and test your value proposition

Programme overview: 

This programme supports students in taking their business idea (problem and solution) and crafting it into a value proposition

They will develop and test a value proposition which includes market segmentation, assessing competition, developing a customer persona in the selected initial target market, crafting a value proposition and real world validation of that proposition.They will  finish off by developing a draft business model - ready for the next step.

Students run through a series of steps that include lectures on the relevant task being undertaken, cases and examples, entrepreneurial stories, quizzes and assignments which represent the milestones in the journey (for instance a customer empathy map). The final assignment is a video of the student pitching their value proposition to a customer.

All Mashauri programmes are based on project-based experiential learning that helps move the student toward developing an entrepreneurial mindset. Not only does this set up the possibility of the student following an entrepreneurial career path; but the cognitive skills developed also will improve their value as a future employee and as such help to differentiate themselves in the market.

Our programmes use gamification techniques and ongoing monitoring to ensure high student engagement.

What type of student is this aimed at?

The course is aimed at students who have a strong desire to learn more about entrepreneurship and to start gaining experience with an idea that they have already developed.

This could be undertaken as an individual exercise or working in groups. In either case, each student will still run through all the steps of the programme but most of the assignments will be submitted by the group.

The programme has been designed to support professors teaching entrepreneurship in the classroom and provides them with a tool that gives the students some hands-on learning and puts into practice some of the things they are learning in class. If the course stretches for a semester or more, this programme can also be linked to some of the other Mashauri courses that takes the student further along the business development process.

In addition, this programme might be run as a stand-alone programme promoted by (for instance) a centre for entrepreneurship and innovation; or even a technology transfer office.

Developing and testing your business model
aka: "Nail it before you scale it"

Programme overview

This programme supports students in taking their value proposition into a full business plan, identifying the key assumptions and testing them in the market. It includes crafting a pricing strategy based on concepts such as cost of customer acquisition and customer lifetime value.

They will be introduced to several different types of business modelling tools and canvases and select the one most appropriate to their venture idea. They will build a minimum viable product (MVP) and attempt to make some early sales or at least get customer commitment to such (eg letters of intention).

Students run through a series of steps that include lectures on the relevant task being undertaken, cases and examples, entrepreneurial stories, quizzes and assignments which represent the milestones in the journey (for instance a business model canvas). The final assignment is a video of the student pitching their business to an investor.

All Mashauri programmes are based on project-based experiential learning that helps move the student toward developing an entrepreneurial mindset. Not only does this set up the possibility of the student following an entrepreneurial career path; but the cognitive skills developed also will improve their value as a future employee and as such help to differentiate themselves in the market.

Our programmes use gamification techniques and ongoing monitoring to ensure high student engagement.

What type of student is this aimed at?

The course is aimed at students who have already developed a validated value proposition and are committed to following their idea through to obtaining paying customers. As such, these are students who have demonstrated entrepreneurial ability and are likely to persevere to the end.

This could be undertaken as an individual exercise or working in groups. In either case, each student will still run through all the steps of the programme but the assignments will be submitted by the group.

What type of Instructor is this aimed at?

The programme has been designed to support professors teaching entrepreneurship in the classroom and provides them with a tool that gives the students hands-on learning and puts into practice some of the things they are learning in class. This course in particular will be of significant benefit to those instructors teaching a longer programme to students who have a strong commitment to entrepreneurship. This programme could be a useful capstone project in courses of a year or longer.

Directors of entrepreneurship and innovation centres; or leaders of incubators, accelerators and science parks could obtain significant benefit from providing their students access to this programme. It is particularly useful in providing mentors with a framework that allows them to support and track their mentees and significantly leverages the use of the mentors time.

Technology transfer offices might use the programme to assist students in consolidating their ventures into a fundable entity.

How is the instructor supported?

The course runs on the Mashauri platform and the students are guided along the journey with lectures, motivational material, quizzes and assignments. The instructor is given a “mentor” role and is able to track student progress and communicate with students via the platform or offline.

We provide the instructor with clear process maps that help them market the programme, select students, evaluate progress and mark assignments (if required). We also provide material to help the professor hold a live pitching event at the end of the programme.

A teaching note and presentation materials that may be used in class (pre-and post-course) are also provided to the instructor.

A Mashauri project manager/mentor will be allocated to support the instructor, monitor the course and give regular report-backs aimed at maintaining high engagement of students.

For more information on the curriculum, content, pricing and supporting material click here:

Course details

If you would like to discuss this in more detail, please contact us at info@mashauri.org.

The Growth Coach

Entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey, even when you are working with co-founders and early employees. You are expected to be taking critical decisions on the fly with limited or no previous experience in these matters.

The Growth Coach has been designed to help you through this critical time in your new venture's life as you move from a small business with a proven business model to one with rapid growth and sustainable processes that scale to meet the growth.

Eric Fairbairn from POD Point said: ““Each time your business doubles everything seems to break; your sales process, finance processes, management information flow, so every time your company doubles in size, you end up re-designing every process you have.”

The Growth Coach is aimed to help CEO’s face the myriad and inter-related challenges of high growth that include:

• Leadership
• Recruitment (and firing)
• Communication (internal and external)
• Growth engine identification and optimisation
• Cash management and funding the business
• Nurturing the culture
• Process development
• Decision making
• Managing risk

For more information , please contact us at info@mashauri.org.

Is this course for you?

Many people think about starting their own business and even have an idea they have been considering - but just never get around to starting it. 

Are you one of those people? Or would you like to join the ranks of successful entrepreneurs who create value by bringing their idea to life?

If you would like to be in the latter group and you wish to bring your idea to life, then this course is for you.

Objectives of programme

• To expose you to entrepreneurship 
• To assist in refining your business idea to increase your probability of success
• To help you clearly define the problem you are solving
• To guide you in clarity around your target market
• To help you construct a clear value proposition

Curriculum

• Understanding what is entrepreneurship
• The benefits and risks of entrepreneurship
• Characteristics of successful entrepreneurs
• A questionnaire-based assessment of your entrepreneurial competencies
• Introduction to The Golden Circle

• Idea clarification
• The problem you are solving
• Development of the problem vision statement
• Target market and personas
• Initial competitor analysis
• Value proposition development
• Value proposition testing
• Value proposition pitch development

Modus operandi

Each exercise will be preceded by an introduction to the concept in the form of an online lesson. The practical exercises will be posed by way of an assignment to complete. All assignments will be supported  by templates to allow you to efficiently conduct the exercise.

A question and answer forum will be provided that will allow you to ask questions of your colleagues and/or the professor running the course.

Timing and duration

The programme will run from 22nd January to 29th January and will be hosted on online (on Mashauri: an international entrepreneurial education platform). It is anticipated that you will require 20 hours to complete the course: 5 of which will be in the form of instruction and the balance in practical exercises in developing and refining your idea.

As this is an online programme, you will be able to complete it at your own pace although you must finish all the work by the deadline. There will be a suggested schedule and you will be reminded if you fall behind that schedule.

Support and evaluation

You will be evaluated on the basis of correct submission of all the assignments as well as a final quiz (which will be repeatable if you do not at first receive a passing grade.

Prerequisites

The student needs no prior knowledge of entrepreneurship but must have a business idea that they wish to investigate. They will need to have a basic understanding of Google tools (sheets, docs and slides) and a Google account (which is free and quick to set up).

Access to the internet and a laptop or desktop computer will be necessary to complete the assignments.

Course instructor

The instructor will be Professor Simon Gifford who is CEO of Mashauri. He is an entrepreneur who has founded a number of companies (including Mashauri) and acts as an advisor to a number of startups and scale-ups. , He currently also lectures at IE Business School in Madrid and has a rich background of giving strategy support to large companies all around the globe..

Mashauri

Mashauri is a UK based organisation that provides an entrepreneurial education platform to universities and other institutions in Europe, Africa and India. The platform uses best practice from modern entrepreneurial thinking (such as lean startup) as well as advanced digital teaching methodologies including gamification and flipped-classroom techniques.

The organisation has a vision that all university graduates should be offered the opportunity to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. More details of this is given n the "what we do" and "why we do it"  sections at the top of this page.

Price

The course is free to all users.

The UWC Mashauri Post-Graduate Venture Accelerator is the UWC’s centre for innovation and entrepreneurship programme for post graduate entrepreneurs where they are supported in moving their research ideas towards commercialisation.

Creating a new business can be a life-changing experience for the entrepreneur and potentially all their future customers and employees. However, the road is not easy and requires knowledge, dedication and plenty of hard work.

UWC have launched this programme to give post-grad entrepreneurs the necessary knowledge, skills and guidance to get going on the journey. They are encouraged to base their ideas directly or indirectly on their research. The Technology Transfer Office also get involved in assisting the students in areas such as intellectual property.

By the end of the Venture Accelerator programme, you will have developed, tested and validated your business idea in the market. If the test is positive, you will be ready to take the next steps in building a business model and the first demonstrable product (called a minimum value product) to customers. 

Even if your initial idea proves not to be viable, you will have learned how to get going with starting a new business and have a tool-set and process to help you try out the next idea! 

Programme details: outcome and objectives

Programme outcome

At the end of the programme, you will have developed a real business idea that has been market tested and you will have learned the right way to go about designing and developing a new business idea.

Programme objectives

• You will have undergone an entrepreneurial readiness assessment and been exposed to some of the pro’s and con’s of entrepreneurship
• You will have established your personal purpose for wishing to start a new business venture
• You will have identified and evaluated a number of possible business ideas including at least one idea related to your own research project
• You will have selected and defined a venture idea to pursue based on a clear set of criteria
• You will have analysed the market and competitive landscape surrounding your business idea
• You will have selected an initial target market and identified a customer type
• You will have developed a value proposition appropriate for your target market
• You will have tested the value proposition with real customers
• You will have made a movie of yourself pitching your business idea.
• You will be part of a supportive, network of like-minded entrepreneurs

If you would like to design a similar programme for your institution, please contact us at info@mashauri.org for more information.

Purpose of the JKLU Pre-incubator

The JKLU Pre-Incubator  is where JKLU students compete to enter the AIC Incubator JKLU 3 month full-time programme. But that is not the only purpose ......

The good news is that whether or not you get accepted, the process will put you firmly on the road to launching your new venture. Even if you do not make it onto the full incubator programme, you will be offered alternative paths to  that will help you move toward your destination.

NOTE: at this stage, this program is for prototype and demo purposes only.
Wording and detailed curriculum must be updated.

Objective of the programme:

To guide entrepreneurs from idea through to the development of a market-tested value proposition ready for development into a full business model. 

In so doing, the student will apply and be assessed for readiness for the full JKLU incubator programme

Who is it for:

JKLU students who would like to apply for the JKLU full incubator programme and:

• Already have a clear business idea and wish to move forward with their business development
• Have an idea and have made some initial steps but are unclear on the right way to go further
• Wish to test if their business idea is viable before investing significant sums in further development
• Would like to apply scientific and proven steps such as the lean approach to increase their probability of success

Timing:

12 weeks

Output / deliverable:

A value proposition that is based on early market testing and assessed in the light of market size, targeted market segmentation, competitive position and underlying customer needs.

The ultimate deliverable produced is a video of the entrepreneur presenting their value proposition.

The final deliverable will also act as your application for the AIC Incubator JKLU Programme.

You will follow a lean startup path, capturing your ideas, progress and models using the tools and templates provided. There are assignments and milestones that will keep you focused and on track. The quizzes along the way will help you to measure your personal learning, along with the advancement of your new venture.

Have a look at the curriculum to get an idea of the journey you will take

Pricing:

This is is free to students who are accepted to enter the programme

Commencement:

The programme will commence in November 2019. Exact dates will be confirmed following JKLU's decision in this regard.

By the end of the programme, you will have developed a robust value proposition off which to develop and grow your business. The customer research will ensure that your idea is sound and that there is a real market for your product. By reaching this “market-solution fit”, you will have avoided the biggest mistake made by failing startups – that is building a product that no one wants.

What do students think of Mashauri? 

Scroll to the bottom of the front page of our site and read through some of the feedback we have received under "Testimonials".