LIFE Curriculum


The LIFE Curriculum teaches aspiring and experienced entrepreneurs how to use widely available IT tools to start, run and grow their business. The LIFE Curriculum is aimed at people starting up, running, or working in micro-enterprises. Despite representing the largest source of new jobs worldwide, these small companies often struggle with efficiency and fail to grow beyond their very small size. The LIFE Curriculum aims to help them overcome some of these challenges.

Importantly, the LIFE Curriculum combines business and technology – at no point does it teach business and technology independently of each other.  It aims to show how common, widely available IT tools can help solve widely encountered business challenges.

 

The LIFE Curriculum can be obtained directly from MEA-I. It is also regularly updated and extended with new topics.
Please contact info@mea-i.org for details.

 

The LIFE Curriculum is based on two key principles:

  1. The Experiential Learning Cycle – a way of learning through hands-on experiences, proven to be the optimal way of learning for adults
  2. The Business-Technology-Business framework – a way of integrating all the technological content into a business context, such that students are always aware of the relevance to business of the technological skills they are acquiring in class

 

The topics in the LIFE Curriculum are grouped in the following business and entrepreneurship levels:

The first level of the curriculum is called IMAGINE. It addresses people, often young graduates, who are still only dreaming of having their own business. IMAGINE offers them training on basic business concepts, helping them build the foundations of their entrepreneurial thinking.

The second, level of the curriculum is called PLAN. PLAN also addresses young people who don’t yet have their own business but who have an idea about a business they would like to start. PLAN helps them build a business plan for their company.

The third level of the curriculum is called START. It addresses novices in business, helping them develop their basic IT skills so they can run their start-up as effectively as possible from the very beginning.

The fourth level of the curriculum is called GROW. It focuses on more advanced IT for business skills and gives entrepreneurs the tools to make decisions about further investments into technology.

The fifth level is called INNOVATE. It addresses experienced entrepreneurs who are looking to optimize their operational tasks by undergoing training on more sophisticated technology.