TPE – Training Program for Entrepreneurs – DKU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative

The Training Program for Entrepreneurs (TPE) is our face-to-face training program that enables students to acquire both fundamental knowledge and practical skills. It helps students develop a comprehensive venture plan while strengthening their entrepreneurial thinking through a blend of cutting-edge theory, real-world cases, and intensive practice. It guides students through the journey of startup design, from opportunity identification, product development, business model, to growth strategy and financing. It gives special attention to the social impact of ventures and the social responsibilities of entrepreneurs.

TPE consists of workshops and lectures that are delivered by professionals, experts, and practitioners in relevant fields. The program comprises six modules. Each module addresses a major theme of entrepreneurship, and includes one or two workshops and lectures. At the end of each module, the instructor(s) will give assignments to help students apply and practice new knowledge and skills.

Participation in the TPE sessions is mandatory for all participants. Prospective applicants are also welcome to attend if there are seats available.

Module One: Idea, Opportunity, and Entrepreneurship

A creative idea for a product, service, business, or nonprofit organization is a spark for a new venture. But entrepreneurs have to learn whether this idea leads to entrepreneurial opportunities that also align with their personal and professional goals.

Workshop: Identifying, understanding and evaluating opportunities

The workshop helps students to learn how to identify, understand, and evaluate their ideas and potential opportunities. The goal is to help students build the skills necessary to define and assess opportunities for innovation with continued practice throughout their academic studies and professional careers.

Lecture: Why do you want to be an entrepreneur?

Module Three: Business Model and Strategic Planning

Workshop: Develop a business model

There is a widespread recognition that competition between businesses today is not solely based on their competitive strategy but on their business models. A sustainable competitive position can be achieved only when a company is able to innovate its business concept and its business model. From this workshop, students will understand the key components of a business model in different frameworks, explore the distinguished models in the market, and learn to design an innovative business model.

Workshop: Strategic planning: goal setting, sustainable growth, and milestones

While you have a business model, the next step is to develop a strategic plan that will serve as a roadmap for you to achieve your goal. This workshop will discuss the key elements you should address in your strategic plan and how you can design an achievable but also challenging plan for your venture. More importantly, different businesses should have different strategies based on their product features, values, and goals.

Lecture: Business model innovation

Module Five: Branding, Marketing, and Storytelling

Workshop: Digital marketing

Along with the rise of digital technologies, new digital tools and disruptive media have transformed marketing and communication channels. Companies must manage the growing power of connected customers. To be successful, marketers have to plan, implement, and measure the impact of digital strategies that can integrate the needs of customers, business goals, and traditional marketing. This workshop will examine digital marketing strategies, implementation, and execution considerations for B to B and B to C brands. In addition, it will provide a detailed introduction to different digital channels and platforms. After completing the workshop, students will gain comprehensive knowledge and experience of how to develop an integrated digital marketing strategy, from its formulation to implementation.

Workshop: Branding and communication

Branding is a key differentiator and a major reason why some start-ups are super successful while others are not. Beyond building a cool new product, start-ups need to create a unique brand image. Start-ups need to connect with people and get them to buy into their yet-to-be-proven solution. This workshop will link everything together: target market, brand story, visual and written language, and memorable campaigns, creating marketing assets for all the platforms.

Lecture: How to tell a good story?

Module Two: Product Development

Workshop: From an idea to a product

A product can be defined as a collection of benefits that is either a tangible good as commonly defined, or an intangible service or experience. Product development typically refers to all of the stages involved in bringing a product from a concept to market release and beyond. This includes both the creation of an entirely new product and modifications to an existing product. This workshop introduces the concept of product development by outlining a product’s entire journey, including identifying a market need, conceptualizing and designing the product, building the product roadmap, developing a minimum viable product (MVP), releasing the MVP to users; and iterating based on user feedback.

Workshop: Target and understand your customer

Understanding the needs of customers is an essential element for businesses to be successful in this competitive world. In this workshop, students will learn how to use key tools to understand their potential customers, how to design/develop/adjust the product to meet the needs of customers, the procedures for improving user experiences, and marketing and sales tactics to appeal to different customer profiles.

Lecture: Why an MVP and how to build one?

Module Four: Operation and Finance

Workshop: Plan of operation

After creating a strategic plan for a business, the next step is to implement it. A comprehensive plan of operation will help entrepreneurs move from paper to action and measure various indicators for success. This workshop will introduce the critical component that needs to be addressed in an operation plan, such as core competencies, company timeline, operation and production, research and development plan, and staff plan. It gives students a flexible framework that they can use to create a viable plan of operation.

Workshop: Budget and financial modeling

A financial model will quantify and validate the business model, the assumptions, and the vision of a venture. It can tell if the idea can become a sustainable business. Also, the financial model includes a plan of raising capital with identifying cash needs and major milestones (for example, budgeting, forecasting, and capital allocation). Moreover, the financial plan will be a benchmark to evaluate business performance and provide start-up shareholders with basic information. This workshop will introduce key elements of a financial plan and provide practical methods of building a viable financial plan. It will focus on analyzing important statistics, such as estimated market size and sales forecast.

Workshop: Launch a start-up: IP, company registration, taxes, and more

Lecture: Investor’s perspective: what are investors looking for from a start-up?

Module Six: Business for Good

Workshop: Social entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship is the process of pursuing innovative and sustainable solutions to solve social problems. Social entrepreneurs draw upon the best thinking in both the commercial and nonprofit worlds and operate in all kinds of organizations. Combining business with a social purpose has been recognized as the distinctive feature of a social venture. This workshop will introduce the key differences between social ventures and business-driven ventures; also, it will explain the successful business models for social ventures with the goal of balancing business and social impact. The workshop aims to encourage students to think outside of the box in terms of doing business in the future.