There's a great debate over whether entrepreneurship can be taught. While not everyone is going to end up as successful as a Zuckerberg, a Gates or a Karp, we can at least teach our kids some elementary business skills.
The BizWorld Foundation is a non-profit organization that teaches children in grades 3-8 business basics, such as entrepreneurship skills and finance. The program inspires students to develop critical thinking and leadership skills that will help them become future innovators.
Students in the BizWorld program design, produce and sell friendship bracelets after collaborating on a business model. Friendship bracelets are always the core product of these businesses because they appeal to the target age group of children, and the product is a relatable one through which to learn the basics of business.
The inspiration for BizWorld came to venture capitalist Tim Draper when his nine year old daughter asked him, "What do you do?" In an interview with Mashable, Draper said, "It clicked in my head that she didn't have any idea what was going on out there. So I thought 'Well, I'm not going to tell you but, I'll see if your teacher will let me come into the class.'" Draper then went to her classroom and set up a business simulation that established the blueprint for BizWorld.
BizWorld teachers have the flexibility to implement the ten-hour program in one week, two days, six months or whatever availability they have. The program takes the class step-by-step through the entrepreneurial cycle: production, marketing, financial management, promoting their products and retail.
Teachers divide their classes into teams, and then each student takes a leadership role within the company: CEO, VP of Finance or VP of Sales, etc. When it's time to create the product, the VP of Production is in charge of coordinating the design and production with the rest of the team, and the CEO creates the VC funding pitch. At the end of the program, the students sell their products to other students, and the teacher runs the numbers to see who really made a profit. The teacher then facilitates a conversation with the class about what worked and didn't work, and explains the strategies that make the business most successful. This model facilitates and encourages teamwork within the group of students, teaching them real-life collaboration skills they will need for the workforce, while also giving rough parameters that inspire ingenuity and creativity.
The BizWorld program has now expanded into two other program offerings: BizWiz and BizMovie. BizWiz focuses on the stock market — it teaches kids to how to invest, so they look at portfolios and learn how to diversify their investments. Again, at the end of the day, the question is about who achieves their financial goals and the students discuss what went well and where they struggled.
BizMovie is similar to BizWorld, except it was created in collaboration with the National Center for Women and Information Technology and integrates computer-animated movie production programs. Students learn how to code, and the entire program is run on computers. And instead of selling friendship bracelets, they have a movie to sell at the end of the program.
Mashable spoke with BizWorld CEO Thais Rezende about the success the program has seen in some of the schools, and the results are impressive. "We do a pre- and post-assessment of the children who go through our program, and on average 96% of our classes increase their knowledge of business entrepreneurship and financial concepts." And, really, the low-income students are seeing the highest percentage of gains after the program. Although the program focuses on entrepreneurship, those skills spill over to other subject area — 95% of BizWorld teachers see improvements in math, social studies, language and real-world economics. These concepts are made accessible to the students, and then benefit from the experience.
Because of the teamwork element, 97% of BizWorld teachers say the program helps children work together and be more teamwork oriented, "a critical skill for real world jobs."
With an average of 50,000 student participants annually, and a half a million children through the program — BizWorld is helping create a slew of future innovative leaders all around the world. With participation in all 50 U.S. states and five other countries (the Netherlands, Ireland, India, Italy and Peru) the program is poised to make a big difference in students' lives.
Image: flickr, Maryland GovPics