Helena Larsen, September 28, 2020 3 min read
Tech Nation has teamed up with Bethnal Green Ventures (BGV) and EY to develop six new ‘Start a tech for good business’ courses for the Digital Business Academy.
The collaboration will enable early-stage entrepreneurs to positively impact the lives of the people and communities around them by being at the forefront of sustainable and inclusive growth.
“At Bethnal Green Ventures, we are very excited with the idea of people from all walks of life understanding how tech for good and venture capital work together. We hope the hard work of our brilliant portfolio founders and my colleagues will inspire them to consider their own entrepreneurial ambitions and even start building solutions to our global challenges.” Cansu Deniz Bayrak, Senior Partner at BGV
Since launching the DBA in November 2015 we’ve had more than 49,000 online learners to the platform, and the number of users that have completed the courses has reached up to 56% during the last year – exceeding the industry standard.
“Effective use of technology is vital to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. EY is proud to work with Tech Nation to inspire and support the next generation of tech for good entrepreneurs.” Gillian Hinde, EY Global Corporate Responsibility Leader
The Digital Business Academy already offers 84 online business courses from UCL, Cambridge Judge Business School, Valuable Content and Founder Centric, succeeding in its mission to democratise access to education, offering free courses to anyone who wants to start, run, or join a digital business. It is a direct pipeline to reward opportunities with partners offering mentorship, special content, legal help, as well as free startup support such as fast-tracking to startup loans and free co-working space.
“At Tech Nation, our vision is a world in which anyone with vision and drive can access the skills and support needed to scale and succeed as a game-changing leader. We’re delighted to have worked, through The Digital Business Academy, with BGV and EY on a new set of courses for aspiring tech for good entrepreneurs. We hope this new content gives entrepreneurs the confidence to spark change and the inspiration to make their idea come to life” Gerard Grech, CEO, Tech Nation
We gathered some of the best industry experts around the globe, who, in six bite-sized courses, will provide their guidance and teaching to help you develop the essential skills and knowledge about impact entrepreneurship, so you can drive sustainable and inclusive growth.
In the courses, you’ll learn:
In this introductory course, we will dive into the meaning of tech for good and its relation to entrepreneurship. This involves looking at what distinguishes tech for good startups from other businesses, and who’s who in the tech for good ecosystem.
In this course, you’ll learn about idea development and how we can use technology to solve a problem. We look at useful ways to research a problem, design a product, build a team and make sure that what you’re developing is something that people genuinely want.
This course focuses on how to build a business model for your tech for good startup that delivers both profit and positive impact. In many ways, building a profitable tech for good startup is like building any other business. But when it comes to partnerships, communications and sales, you have some advantages.
Measuring what matters and understanding the effects you have on the world is important. It’s also important to communicate your findings effectively to all of your stakeholders; whether that’s investors, the press, prospective employees or your customers. In this course, we dive into the question of impact measurement and management.
As a founder, your plans will likely outgrow your cash balance. If this is the case, you may need to fundraise. Fundraising is a challenging process, so in this course, we shine a light on the tips, tricks, processes and priorities with respect to securing a raise.
This final course will look at fundraising from the opposite perspective. What are investors looking for in founders and in businesses? Where might investors look for the founders? What are the long-term emerging trends in tech for good investing? We close out on a conversation with the ‘godfather of impact investing’ – Sir Ronald Cohen.
