Training women entrepreneurs

Students walk in the University of Oxford. The university in England is cooperating with the Zhejiang University of China on a women entrepreneurship development program. CFP

Editor's note: Said Business School at the University of Oxford in England recently joined the Global Entrepreneurship Research Center at the School of Management at Zhejiang University to start the Oxford-Zhejiang 10,000 Women Entrepreneurship Certificate Program, part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative Program, to develop the entrepreneurial skills of women entrepreneurs in China. The first 100 successful candidates recently graduated.

Elizabeth Paris is leading the project and is an associate fellow of Said Business School, University of Oxford. She recently talked with China Business Reporter Liu Jie about the participants, the goal of the program and how it operates.

Q: The Oxford-Zhejiang 10,000 Women Entrepreneurship Certificate Program, part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative Program, was launched earlier this year. Why did the global project choose China as one of its destinations?

A: Goldman Sachs has pledged $100 million over five years to provide a generation of women in under-served areas around the world with a business and management education.

This initiative is grounded in the belief that expanding the entrepreneurial talent and managerial pool in these economies - especially among women - is one of the most important, yet too often neglected, means of increasing economic opportunity.

The initiative is supporting programs in a wide range of countries, including China.

From Said Business School's perspective, China is a very interesting location. The industrial, social and commercial changes going on in China are on an unprecedented scale.

As a leading international business school, we are actively engaged in research and teaching relating to China. Moreover, the University of Oxford has a broad and longstanding relationship with China and recognizes the global significance of Chinese industry and business.

The university has recently established a China Center, which brings together much of its research and activities relating to China. A significant number of academics within the university have research interests in China, and a number of them are working collaboratively with colleagues in China.

Said Business School itself has a developing relationship with Zhejiang University. The Goldman Sachs initiative provided a valuable opportunity for the two institutions to work together to deliver a program for women entrepreneurs in China.

Q: The first 100 women who recently graduated were selected from more than 1,000 applicants. How did you choose the trainees?

A: We were delighted with the level of interest in the program. There was a rigorous selection procedure designed to ensure that the successful scholars had the highest entrepreneurial potential, and that they genuinely required scholarship funding to receive such business and management training.

Zhejiang, Said Business School and colleagues from Goldman Sachs were involved in selecting the participants.

Clearly, there is a need for the sort of educational experience we were providing and a huge appetite among female entrepreneurs within the region to capitalize upon the opportunity offered by Goldman Sachs to achieve success for their businesses.

These women want to do well in business and were prepared to work hard and to study to achieve their goals.'

Q: What about the training they received from the program? Did you have specific courses for them that were different from those offered in other countries?

A: The program was specifically designed for these participants and has been developed with a detailed assessment of the needs of participants.

The program was developed and delivered by the Global Entrepreneurship Research Center at the School of Management at Zhejiang University and by Said Business School.

Said Business School has drawn upon its considerable experience in working with female entrepreneurs internationally, including female social entrepreneurs who often work in developing countries with little infrastructure and support.

Both schools have also sought the input of their female MBA students, which include residents of 27 countries at Said Business School, who brought valuable insights to the process of designing the program.

The program's topics included business and entrepreneurship skills, international perspectives and ongoing mentoring.

Mentors for each of the participants were drawn from Goldman Sachs professionals, from among successful Chinese women entrepreneurs and from alumni of Said Business School and Zhejiang University.

A range of delivery mechanisms was employed, including lectures, workshops, company visits, practitioner input and a number of case studies developed by Said and Zhejiang specifically to support the program.

The curriculum combined local and highly practical training for entrepreneurs in Zhejiang province with examples of best practices from entrepreneurs across the globe.

The inclusion of field visits to trainees' businesses in Ningbo, as well as the involvement of successful women entrepreneurs as speakers and mentors, ensured that the curriculum was focused on the specific challenges the scholars would face locally in their businesses.

Zhejiang and Oxford professors worked closely to develop a five-module program to build up crucial business skills and entrepreneurship competency in China. The modules were supported by case studies the two developed together, and there was an ongoing program of lectures by financiers, lawyers and entrepreneurs, science park site visits and business planning supervision, as well as mentoring by entrepreneurs and business people.'

Q: In addition to training, do you offer follow-up support to those female entrepreneurs?

A: It has been a key concern of the program designers to create a means of supporting the program participants after the program is completed.

So a key feature of the program has been the one-to-one support of mentors, including Goldman Sachs employees and Oxford University alumni, with whom the participants will remain in touch beyond graduation as they put their learning into practice within their own businesses.

In addition, there will be networking and graduate events to continue to share best practices and to build competency.

Many of the women have spoken very positively about the strength of support they received during the program from their fellow participants, and how they plan to keep in touch to support each other in growing their businesses.

Q: Would you like to share some interesting or impressive stories about the training project?

A: A number of the women have commented on their experience in the program.

Jiang Xianglian, vice president of the Rui'an Rural Village Agriculture Association, is one example. She said that she absorbed more information in this short period of three months than in her 30 years of experience.

The teacher in accounting helped her solve some problems in her organization, even though she is not an accountant. And the teacher in human resources taught her how to communicate with employees, and the teacher in management taught her to manage the company effectively.

According to tableware disinfectant service provider Zhang Bingling, the program gave her new ideas and a solid foundation in many areas, including employee training, operational process standardization and service quality control.

(China Daily 11/30/2009 page10)