Austin Okere, Group MD/CEO, CWG |
The
group chief executive officer, Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), Mr. Austin Okere
has joined crop of leading world entrepreneurs as he became an instructor at
the Steve Blank “Lean Launch Pad” Class, Columbia Business School (CBS).
DigitalSENSE
Business News gathered this was part of the strategies to replicate the novel
concept in Nigeria, recalling that Lean Launch Pad has joined forces with
Startup Weekend, Udacity, TechStars and Startup America to offer some of the
world’s most effective experiential entrepreneurship education.
By
combining content from the world’s leading experts in customer development with
local mentors and leaders in an intensive flipped-classroom style course, the movement
was able to create a unique, effective experience for teams of entrepreneurs
that are serious about growing a customer-driven startup.
The
programme is already being offered in 15 cities around the world, with another
25 programmes launching in February with the goal to expand the programme to
more than 100 cities in 2013.
Thus
far, seasoned entrepreneurs such as Steve Blank are teaching NEXT in Silicon
Valley, Andy Sack (TechStars Seattle founder) in Seattle, Alex Farcet (founder
of Startupbootcamp) in multiple European cities, Eric Koester (founder of
Zaarly) in Washington, DC with countless others joining.
The
Eugene Lang Entrepreneurial Center at CBS, where Okere has been a guest
lecturer since 2009, conveyed in their invitation their belief that his
experience and contribution to entrepreneurial ship in emerging markets will
provide unparalleled contribution to the class of aspiring entrepreneurs.
The
Computer Warehouse Group, whose case study is a regular feature at Columbia
Business School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, as well
as many other institutions in Africa, including the prestigious Lagos Business
School, chronicles the trials, challenges and triumph of entrepreneurship in
the challenging environment that characterizes Sub Saharan Africa.
The Lean
Launch Pad course provides real world, hands-on learning on what it is like to
actually start a high-tech company. It is a practical class where the goal is
to create an entrepreneurial experience with all of the pressures and demands
of the real world in an early stage start up.
The
syllabus for the course is drawn majorly from the bestselling book, The Startup
Owner’s Manual, co-authored by serial entrepreneurs Steve Blank and Bob Dorf,
and the revolutionary new book, Business Model Generation co-authored by
Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur.
These
two books provide insights into powerful, simple, tested tools for
understanding, designing, reworking, and implementing business models, through
a business model canvas, that defines unique value propositions for specific
customer segments, and the relationships and channels to deliver these to the
customer to maximize revenue. It also helps the entrepreneur identify key
resources, partners and key activities to be performed and at what cost.
The
course provides a comprehensive step-by-step guide to getting startups right.
It walks entrepreneurs through the customer development process that gets them
out of the building to develop wining products that customers will buy.
There is
an increasing global focus and emphasis on entrepreneurship as the most viable
vehicle for job creation. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
(GEM) 2011 report, there is an upsurge in entrepreneurship around the world,
with a total number of about 400 million spread across 54 countries.
The GEM in
its 2006 report revealed that there was a systematic relationship between a
country’s level of economic development and its level of entrepreneurial
activity. It noted that countries with similar per capita GDP tend to exhibit
similar levels of entrepreneurial activity.
At low
levels of per capita GDP, industrial structure is characterized by the
prevalence of many very small enterprises. As per capita income increases,
industrialization and economies of scale allow larger and established firms to
satisfy the increasing demand of growing markets and to increase their relative
role in the economy.
On his
involvement in the Block Week Course at Columbia Business School Okere said “I
believe that it is better to have a thousand millionaires than a ten
billionaires. It is better still to have a million people with access to a
hundred thousand dollars, if they can be taught how to nurture and grow it
through entrepreneurial endeavor; and I intend to do something about it, so
when I was invited, I did not hesitate in accepting, with a view to bringing
the concept to Africa”.
Okere
whose entrepreneurial advocacy has taken him on similar teaching expeditions
across Africa; through Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania also remarked “I like to put
the story of the Computer Warehouse Group out there because such success
stories contribute immensely to the attraction of capital to the region, which
combined with the entrepreneurial acumen and the youthful population unleashes
waves of economic boom, which in turn lifts the pile at bottom of the pyramid
into the more desirable networked economy of the emerging global village.
Besides, it provides the perfect opportunity to be a brand ambassador for
Africa”.
... Making SENSE of digital revolution!
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