Entrepreneurs made in Ecuador are the 40 fantastic people I’ve been working with for the last 10 weeks.
After 20 years in the classroom telling my old war stories, I’ve rarely enjoyed myself as much as on this course, which the UCJC commissioned from me for the Embassy of Ecuador.
With its citizens in mind, the embassy has created the Escuela del Migrante (Migrant School) to train them in office software, telemarketing, associations, English and my own “Entrepreneurship Course”. The aim of these courses is, without doubt, to make them more employable.
We started the course with the entrepreneur test to identify each student’s strengths and areas for improvement when it comes to running their own business: ability to learn, risk, organisation, resilience in the face of difficulties… On top of that, they looked at a good number of examples of Ecuadorian and Spanish entrepreneurs to inspire them.
The second session focused on spotting business ideas and bringing them down to earth through techniques such as brainstorming, group activities and both online and offline surveys.
Another key aspect we covered on the course was mastering public presentations: how to give an effective presentation in which you say who you are, what you’re good at, what makes your company different and what it can offer others.
One of the most popular activities was building the Business Model Canvas, the perfect way to ground a business idea and lay the foundations of a good business plan. For this activity we formed a total of 8 groups, and every student took an active part.
In the following sessions we covered the marketing plan, communication, social media, setting up a company, tools to manage our company in the cloud…
We saved the last day for my star topic: networking as a tool to make our business known and win customers. It was a very enjoyable session where, as usual, there was no shortage of humour.
The 40 people on the course were tremendously eager to learn, joined in from day one and were great team players. It was fantastic to see that team spirit emerge on the second day, when a private Facebook group was created to share business opportunities and stay in touch.
The end of the course was fantastic, with an incredible gesture they made towards me, more speeches and a finale with music and celebration. It was all worth it for the wonderful atmosphere we enjoyed from the very first day.
As well as the success of the course, we’ve had very good media coverage in the main newspapers of Ecuador and in print and radio in Spain.
With #EmprendECU, as we named the course on the first day, a new movement is emerging to support small Ecuadorian entrepreneurs living in Madrid. There will no doubt be new entrepreneurs from Ecuador launching their new business with more confidence, both in Spain and in their home country.
Good luck, guys, you’re great! You’ve left your mark on me and you know it 😉
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