HP LIFE September Training Testimonies

These participants were sufficiently exposed to all modules in the GROW and INNOVATE entrepreneurial levels of the LIFE Curriculum.

Read some of their comments;

“I feel like I just graduated from Harvard Business School, I Know a lot more about how common technology can help small business, thanks to EDC” Okoh Charles

“The program exceeded my expectation” Umeh Udoka

“I never believed I could learn so much within a week that the programme lasted”. Tajudeen Obafemi

“I can now take advantage of the available online marketing tools” John Paul, Anaekwe Nnamdi

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LIFE Curriculum

The LIFE Program covers the entire evolution of a micro-enterprise and targets people with varying degrees of experience in business and technology. To best meet the needs of people at different stages of entrepreneurship, the LIFE Curriculum content is split into five Entrepreneurial Levels

IMAGINE is the first level of the LIFE Curriculum. IMAGINE addresses people who have no background in business and who are still only dreaming of setting up their own enterprise. IMAGINE offers them training on business concepts, helping them build the foundations of their entrepreneurial thinking. IMAGINE teaches them different types of business analysis while at the same time introducing them to basic technologies that can be used to build these analyses in a professional manner.

PLAN is the second level of the LIFE Curriculum. PLAN addresses people who do not have their own company yet, but who have a good grasp on fundamental business concepts and an idea of the business they would like to start. It teaches them how to translate their idea into a well-researched and structured Business Plan. PLAN introduces further features of the same technological tools covered in the IMAGINE level, giving students the skills necessary to build a flexible and presentable Business Plan.

START is the third level of the LIFE Curriculum. START addresses novices in business to help them develop their basic ICT skills so they can run their company as effectively as possible from the very beginning. The START level of the Curriculum is equally applicable to more established micro-enterprise owners who have considerable business experience but who are not in the habit of using information and communication technologies to manage and run their company.

GROW is the fourth level of the LIFE Curriculum. GROW focuses on more advanced technology for-business skills and gives experienced entrepreneurs the chance to learn about more complex technologies. The content of the GROW level of the Curriculum builds on the skills acquired in the START level, introducing more advanced features of certain technologies as well as entirely new solutions, many of which include Web 2.0 components.

INNOVATE is the fifth level of the LIFE Curriculum. INNOVATE addresses experienced entrepreneurs who are looking to optimize their operational tasks by undergoing training on more sophisticated technologies for business. INNOVATE builds on the technologies covered in the previous levels of the Curriculum to give entrepreneurs who are knowledgeable in business and skilled in technology the opportunity to learn how complex applications can be integrated to help them take their business one step further.

Introducing HP LIFE Program

LIFE – Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs – is a program aimed at people starting up, running or working in the smallest of small enterprises – micro-enterprises. Micro-enterprises, companies that employ fewer than ten people, represent the largest source of new jobs around the world. At the same time, because of limited financial and human resources, they often struggle to be as efficient as they could be, or to grow beyond their very small size.

LIFE is here to help aspiring and established micro-business owners overcome the challenges to growth and efficiency that they might face on a daily basis.

The LIFE Program does so by showing micro-entrepreneurs and their employees how the use of simple and widely available information and communication technologies (ICT) can help their businesses thrive.

This is done through training. Future and experienced micro-entrepreneurs attend LIFE Trainings taught by certified LIFE Trainers.

The LIFE Program teaches aspiring entrepreneurs fundamental business concepts and guides them through the process of building a Business Plan.

The LIFE Program helps micro-entrepreneurs gain awareness of and familiarity with different information technologies that can be useful in business. More concretely, it strengthens their skills in different business-relevant technology applications that they can apply to their business immediately.

The LIFE Program provides micro-entrepreneurs with the opportunity and the skills to assess the needs of their own business vis-à-vis ICT tools, so that they can make the best decisions about investing in particular technologies or further training on either business- or technology-related matters.

The LIFE Program maximizes the interaction of the students attending LIFE Trainings so that they can learn from each other and share ideas, experiences and advice.

The LIFE Program does all this bearing in mind one important principle: its purpose is to educate, not to promote particular solutions. This means that the technological tools presented in the LIFE Curriculum are always presented as just a few of the many possible options available – the LIFE Curriculum does not promote particular brands. The LIFE Curriculum presents a range of different technologies and gives both proprietary (closed source) and open source solutions, wherever possible.

Certified LIFE Trainers are aware that their role is not to promote any particular technological solution or brand over others. Theirs is to exposes students to different options and solutions – and gives them space to make their own informed choices about what is most suitable for their business. http://www.life-global.org/en