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Internationalization

Program Tool Kit for


mLabs and mHubs

Internationalization
Program Tool Kit

Copyright Page
2014 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank
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Tool kit created by CRDF Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation Team
To cite this publication:
CRDF Global, Internationalization Program Tool Kit for mLabs and mHubs. 2014. Washington, D.C.:
infoDev / World Bank.

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Internationalization
Program Tool Kit
Contents
Overview of the Tool Kit ............................................................................................................................... 4
Internationalization Curriculum .................................................................................................................... 5
Boot Camps and Outreach Events .............................................................................................................. 17
Outreach Event Template Organizing Material .......................................................................................... 26
Interactive Entrepreneurial Activities ......................................................................................................... 27
Online Venture Competitions ..................................................................................................................... 30
Glocal Mentorship....................................................................................................................................... 36
Virtual Trainings and Webinars................................................................................................................... 39
Media and Social Media.............................................................................................................................. 40
Creating and Managing International Partnerships.................................................................................... 41
Monitoring and Evaluation ......................................................................................................................... 42
Additional Resources for Mobile Developers ............................................................................................. 44

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VentureOutVentureOut was a partnership between infoDev and CRDF Global
to propel expansion-ready mobile app entrepreneurs into international markets.
The VentureOut program focused on giving entrepreneurs the tools, inspiration
and opportunities to take their mobile apps to new markets. The program ran
from August 2013 to January 2014 and has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs
through hands-on training, virtual learning opportunities, mentorship,
international exposure and seed funding. Entrepreneurs came from local
technology community partners located in eight countries: Armenia, Jamaica,
Kenya, Macedonia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago.

VentureOut Partners
infoDevinfoDev is a global partnership program within The World Bank Group.
Its Mobile Innovation Program supports growth-oriented mobile app businesses
by enabling entrepreneurship, building mobile innovation communities and
researching the app economy of emerging and frontier markets.
www.infodev.org
CRDF GlobalFounded in 1995, CRDF Global is an independent nonprofit
organization that promotes international scientific and technical collaboration
through grants, technical resources, training and services. www.crdfglobal.org

Sponsoring Governments
Canadian International Development AgencyCIDA provided funding to
launch the Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC).
EPIC was created to improve the innovation environment for high-growth
startups in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and to assist entrepreneurs
on their journey to commercialization. In seven years, the program established
six new incubators in the region.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of FinlandIn combination with MFA Finland and
Nokia, infoDev launched the Creating Sustainable Businesses in the Knowledge
Economy program, which provided support to a variety of initiatives, including
Mobile Applications Laboratories (mLabs), the Global Forum on Innovation and
Technology Entrepreneurship, the Central Asian Capacity-Building Initiative and
the Open Africa Innovation Summit.

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Internationalization
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Overview of the Tool Kit
This tool kit was created by CRDF Global in conjunction with the VentureOut program, sponsored by
infoDev at the World Bank. The purpose of the VentureOut program was to empower organizations
around the world to help their entrepreneurs bring their mobile apps to new markets. The intended
audience is global entrepreneurship enabling organizations, which includes incubators, accelerators,
mobile development and entrepreneur community groups.
The Internationalization Process
When mobile app developers decide to expand to global markets, they are deciding to expand their
customer base and potentially increase their revenue and profits. However, internationalization is
difficult and is not a uniformed process; each company has to make specific decisions regarding their
particular situation. Though many companies go through a similar learning process, there is no simple
answer for entrepreneurs debating whether internationalization is right for their product, and when and
how to expand to global markets. The curriculum in this toolkit is provided to assist entrepreneurs in
creating their plans to enter into new markets.
Section 1: Internationalization Curriculum and Content
The first section of the tool kit covers content, activities and an agenda for a full day of programming
that guides entrepreneurs as they develop their apps for multiple markets and bring their apps to new
countries.
Section 2: Outreach and Awareness Activities
This section of the tool kit offers step-by-step guides for enabling organizations to engage with
entrepreneurs in outreach activities, including startup boot camps, mentorship programs, business
competitions and international web broadcasts. These programs are vehicles that can be used to deliver
knowledge and guidance that will help entrepreneurs achieve professional goals. With the basic
framework, organizers can implement many types of trainings, from introducing internationalization to
improving business planning and forming and managing teams.
Section 3: Monitoring and Evaluation
In the final section, the tool kit shares techniques on how to monitor and evaluate programs, along with
providing some sample surveys. Monitoring and evaluation is important for improving your programs,
and can be collected through soliciting feedback, tracking improvements of the entrepreneurs and
demonstrating your projects results.
Throughout the tool kit are other samples and templates, including sample press releases, social media
posts and email templates. All of this content is yours to use, develop, customize and implement. The
library of documents can be found via DropBox at this link. The documents are also categorized and
introduced in the sections below as they are relevant to specific programs or topics.

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YES Foundation Entrepreneurs in Macedonia participating in VentureOut TechConnect viewing, September 23, 2013

Internationalization Curriculum
The goal of the VentureOut Challenge is to provide knowledge and support to entrepreneurs so they can
take their ventures to new geographic markets. To help entrepreneurship development organizations
achieve this goal, VentureOut is providing the educational tools below to introduce entrepreneurs to the
possibility of going global. This section includes a white paper on internationalization trends. Leaders of
entrepreneurship development organizations should become familiar with the material before sharing
information with entrepreneurs in their network.

Using the Internationalization Material


Below, are several tools that can help you introduce internationalization to your entrepreneurial
network, guide them to create their own plans for international expansion, and encourage them to
succeed.

White Paper: Familiarize yourself with research and trends about internationalization by
checking out ideas presented in the white paper.
Internationalization Sessions: Organize an internationalization series of events or day-long
event using the internationalization sessions.
Angry Birds Case Study: Check out one case study that is representative of the many that are
provided in the complete VentureOut Internationalization Curriculum.
Internationalization Curriculum Links: Here is the complete list to all material and power point
presentations that will help you lead the internationalization activities.

White Paper: Internationalization Strategies for Mobile App Startups


Written by: Charles Eesley, Assistant Professor of Management Science & Engineering at
Stanford Technology Ventures Program and Lijie Zhou, Higher Education Press, Beijing, China

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Regarding beverages, if you can, providing large carafes of coffee and water throughout is the best.
Avoid water bottles to try to minimize waste. Encourage people to bring their own water bottles but
also provide cups and markers, so people can reuse their cups.
In addition to lunch, you should consider investing in food or snacks at the beginning and close of your
program. At the beginning, a welcoming snack can boost peoples energy in the morning and carry them
over into lunch. At the close of your program, light snacks such as cookies, juice and soda can really help
encourage people to network and continue their conversations.

Creating the Budget


Estimating then tracking the expenses
Every dollar saved can be put towards the most successful entrepreneurs. It is the organizing teams
responsibility to keep track of all event expenses. A planning document containing a formatted
budgeting template has been created for you to track all incoming revenue and expenses. This is a
simple but effective tool. See here: Budget Sample

What are the main costs?

Venue: We strongly encourage finding a donated/sponsored venue for the event.


Food and drink: This is difficult, as how much you spend depends on the number of people you
expect to attend. Try your best estimate.
Supplies: Think of what youll need, such as nametags, markers, paper, plates, napkins, etc.
Marketing materials: Can include printing flyers and paying for advertising.
Labor costs: Consider if you will need to pay anyone for their help.
Awards for top entrepreneurs: Nice to provide awards, if possible, through your budget.

Promoting the Event


To whom should I reach out?
To make sure you are reaching out to the right people, keep the goals of the event in mind: to educate
and equip all people who are interested in internationalizing their mobile app. Along with identifying
and supporting them through mentorship, opportunities to pitch, and seed funding the top tech
entrepreneurs who will apply to VentureOut Challenge. The main groups of people to reach are:
Potential angel investors, speakers and mentors
Press the more the merrier
Entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs

Choosing local mentors and speakers


You should plan to reach out to your entire current network, but then specifically encourage your star
entrepreneurs to apply and attend. In addition, you may want to do open requests for applications,

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partner with other organizations to get the word out, utilize a newspaper ad or more. Good local
mentors are experienced entrepreneurs, or subject experts such as developers, designers, marketers,
local investors or business executives. Mentors are typically willing to participate when you clearly
explain the nature of the event and the purpose and extent of their involvement. There is a template
letter to reach out to mentors in the documents listing at the end of this section.

Reaching out to entrepreneurs


Email your network
The easiest group to reach out to. Send a simple invitation. See this example here.
Encourage other organizations to send your invite along
Ask related organizations to forward the invitation to their members. The organization leaders should be
interested in sending along the message, as they are spreading the opportunities that their members
would be interested in.
Use Social Media
Create a Facebook event page and invite your network to join the event. Encourage all who sign up to
also join. Post frequently about the event on Facebook to keep peoples interest up. Use your
organizations Twitter account and create a hashtag for the event that you use in all promotional
materials.
Design Flyers
Design a great flier that has two purposes: You can use it online as a PDF, and you can print it and post it
where your target audience will see it. You might use a QR code or hashtags at the bottom of the flier
with the webpage info. This way people can rip them off find the info online later. Additionally, you can
encourage partner organizations and your network to print and post the fliers as well.

Reaching out to the press


First, create a PDF press release about your event along with a targeted email. Then, create a list of
media contacts. Research the contacts of the best local media companies. The press can publish articles
ahead of time that publicize the event. They can also be invited to attend and interview participants,
along with writing follow-up articles. To do this, you will need to create an organized spreadsheet of
press contacts. Then, you will need to keep track of your correspondence so you can send appropriate
reminders to the list. Also, post the press release online so people can download it. A template press
release is included at the end of this section.

Outreach event webpage guidelines


The organization should create a landing page for the event on their webpage and link to the application
page. The page should include:
Description of the outreach event

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Sponsor logos
The bios of the events mentors, speakers, and panelists
Link to online registration page

Communication to speakers and attendees about the event


Once youve confirmed your speakers, alerted the press and have registered entrepreneurs, emails
should go out to the applicants at various times. Templates are available in the documents section
below.

Confirmation of registration Automatically set up Eventbrite (or other online event


management platform) to send registration confirmations. In the automatic email, encourage
others to register.
Reminder of location and logistics 3 days, then 1 day, then early on the morning of the first
day. You can also schedule to send these emails automatically through Eventbrite.
Be sure to reach out to speakers and other VIP who may not have signed up via Eventbrite.

Local Sponsorships
How can local sponsorships help?
Local cash sponsorships can be used to supplement the award seed grants that will be offered to the top
entrepreneurs. Local sponsorships can also be used to find a great donated venue. Additionally, they can
be used to receive beverage, snack or meal donations. All of which, lower your event costs and
maximize money left in the budget for seed funding. Reaching out for support for this high-profile event
could be a touch point to interest and connect with the sponsors that you would like to work with.

Targeting local sponsors


List potential sponsors. Think of people and organizations that have previously sponsored events in your
community. Types of sponsors to consider include locally based technology companies, local startups,
city or national governments and local restaurants.

Setup for the Actual Event


The day has arrived. What should you expect and what should you double-check before your guests
arrive? Here are two short lists that will help keep you on track:

Setting up registration

At least two people should run the registration table.


An additional volunteer can direct attendees and encourage them to meet other people.
Have a separate table for event goodies.
Have markers and name tags available.

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About 10 minutes before estimated starting, encourage people to find a seat.

Room setup checklist

Make sure there is a place to set up snacks. Think about where and how people will eat.
Ensure there will be enough trash cans.
Know how to operate the air conditioner to change the temperature of the room.
Make sure there is Wi-Fi available for all to use. Test the Wi-Fi password and connectivity. Get a
contact number in case the internet stops working.
Check the bathrooms for toilet paper and soap.
Call speakers to confirm that they are on schedule. Do not forget to ask the speakers to show up
15 minutes early.
Create a slide show to project as people arrive. Try to get a working sound system for music.

Volunteers
In addition to your core team who will be working together to make sure things run well, here are ideas
for volunteers, who will provide invaluable service:
Setup volunteers (four people). Available before the event and at the beginning

Check in attendees.
Set up name tags and other event material in main hall.
Set up signage so people know where to go.

Social media volunteers (four people). Available throughout the event.

Take pictures.
Tweet.
Assist people when they have logistical questions.
Help prepare for any press conference or reception.

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Outreach Event Template Organizing Material
Essential Outreach Event Documents
Boot Camp Time Line
Agenda Template
Possible Event Modules
Venue and Tech Requirements
Event Checklist
Recruitment: Invitations and Outreach
Mentors/Judges
Judge and Mentor Invitation
Confirmation and Expectations
Entrepreneur Invitation
Invitation for Partners to Send
Social Media and Fliers
Event Press Release
Examples of Tweets
Preparing Entrepreneurs for the Event:
Business Model Canvas
Lean Startup Presentation
Printed Materials to Use at the Event
Business Model Canvas Hand out to all attendees.
Mentor Feedback Form Mentor takes notes during the event and gives feedback form to
entrepreneur after mentorship.
End of Boot Camp Survey - Hand out at the event, and also provide link so people can fill out
online.
Certificate Templates Certificates make for a nice closing to a program
Name Tag Template Helpful to have
Table Numbers To mark the tables where mentorship will occur
Pitching Time Sheet To let participants know how much time they have remaining
Post-event Thank You Letters
Mentor and Judges
Entrepreneurs

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Interactive Entrepreneurial Activities
During events you host, its best to intersperse lectures and speakers with activities that get
entrepreneurs moving, thinking and DOING. Below we have a few ideas to get started.

Role playing: hiring position at your startup


Activity: Applying for a position at this startup.
Learning Goals: To imagine what it can be like when they are searching for new team members or
seeking to work with a startup.
Step 1: Find volunteers to play the role of a startup looking to hire and a professional seeking
employment.
Step 2: Ask the entrepreneurs to share with the group what their startup is. Ask interviewees to
share with the group what their expertise is.
Step 3: Give the context of the two people. Perhaps they met at a conference and talked informally.
Now they are having an interview. The interviewee has a skill that is needed by the startup, so they are
having this meeting.
Step 4: Cut to the action. Let them role play.
Step 5: Discuss as a class what you have seen. What questions stood out to you? What would you have
done differently as an interviewer or interviewee?

Practice customer interviews:


Activity: This activity is done on the spot among entrepreneurs at your event. The entrepreneurs take
turns serving as potential customers and providing feedback.
Learning Goals: For the entrepreneurs to get used to seeking and receiving feedback on a business or
business idea and then using that feedback to incorporate changes. To learn the importance of a
prototype in working with customers. To improve their product market fit and then try out the market
again. To present to the group their knowledge and understand the value of the customer development
technique. This activity will likely seem easy when done in the controlled environment and will prepare
them to talk to new leads or contacts about their specific product or venture.
Step 1: Create a venture idea (or use your venture you already have you may give them the choice if
you wish).

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Step 2: Describe your app or venture to potential users. Interview five potential users of their app or
venture and seek their feedback. This can be done in pairs with each person sharing their ideas and
giving feedback and then finding another person to do the same.
Step 3: Present what you learned from the user that you didnt expect. When in the day would a
customer use this app?

Social media campaign master


Activity: In 30 minutes, design an experiment around social media for a cause, a fake venture or your
actual venture. Make YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, or Tumbler accounts. Craft a marketing campaign to
drive traffic to the splash page and leave their email. Manage and monitor this campaign over a week to
see how much traction you can create.
Learning Goals: Entrepreneurs gain experience in social marketing, monitoring and creating traffic. In
the group setting they are able to see which kinds of campaigns gain more followers and begin to think
of reasons why that might be. This experience and the observations may influence how entrepreneurs
are promoting their apps or products in domestic and eventually international markets.
Step 1: Have the entrepreneurs choose their cause or venture they would like to promote. It could be
their actual venture or venture idea or a completely un-related venture or cause.
Step 2: Create the campaign. Be on call to help them with a few ideas.
Step 3: Meet one week later to talk about what they have seen and observed. Which kinds of posts gave
the most response? Which modes of media were fastest to gain followers? Did the social media
followers seem engaged, how can you tell? How many people were able to sign up on your splash page
after all? How did the results differ across the different groups, to what can the difference be
attributed?

Who will purchase your app?


Activity: Users decide which apps they will spend their fake currency on and give reasons why.
Learning Goals: This activity sheds light on who buys a mobile app and why. This allows entrepreneurs to
receive feedback from the group. This feedback may ultimately help entrepreneurs restructure their
app, product or marketing strategy. In the process, entrepreneurs become more accustomed to talking
about their app or product and receiving feedback, a process which many entrepreneurs find initially
very difficult to do.
Step 1: Ideally, if there are sufficient numbers, entrepreneurs and app developers will be assigned to
different groups based on the categories of the mobile apps they work with. For example, utilities,

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productivity, social networking, education, travelling, medical and health. They can also work across
categories.
Step 2: App developers and entrepreneurs have seven minutes to meet with another team and
demonstrate their product or service using PowerPoint, demo video or free download experience.
Step 3: The audience (other teams in the group) will serve as customers, and will be given worksheets
to record their user experience, based on their decision to use $10 out of their individual budget of $50
(virtual dollars) to purchase the app. Rules:

Each participant is given $50 Dollars to spend.


Teams can have 1-3 people.
Each pitch or customer approach costs the team $20. This gets teams familiar with tracking
the costs of acquiring customers relative to the marginal revenue gained from a customer in
testing the business model. It also provides concrete feedback on UI/UX for the team.
Team members may take turns listening to other pitches or giving their own pitches.

Customer Worksheet
1.) On scale of 1 (least seriously) to 10 (most seriously), how seriously are you looking for a solution to
the problem this app will fix?
2.) Have you tried or are you currently trying other apps available to solve this problem? If yes, on scale
of 1-10 how satisfied you are with current solution?
3.) How do you think this app solves the problem? List two features you like and dislike.
4.) On scale of 1 (least likely) to 10 (most likely), how likely is it that you will try this app for free?
5.) On scale of 1 (least likely) to 10 (most likely), how likely is it that you will try this app if it were a paid
download?

Use of case studies


Take a look at the three case studies of tech entrepreneurs from Jamaica, Kenya and Belarus that
VentureOut has provided. These case studies can be read during a workshop and then discussed
amongst participants. Ways to discuss it could be:

How does their situation differ from mine? How is it the same?
Which problems are they dealing with that I currently am facing?
What lessons could I learn from their experience?

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Online Venture Competitions
Venture competitions bring the entrepreneurial community together for a goal: gaining skills to win the
competition to gain access to mentorship, seed funding and other awards. Competitions often
encourage entrepreneurs to polish their written communication of their business goals. Additionally,
they help entrepreneurs learn and implement lessons to improve their business in general. Local
organizations may be interested in encouraging participation in others online business competitions or
in organizing and hosting a competition themselves.

Organizers of VentureOut Challenge with Europe and Central Asia champions Teddy the Guardian in Moldova. November 1,
2013.

Finding competitions for your entrepreneurs to enter


An entrepreneurial organization can benefit from competitions that others are running. Especially if it is
a high-quality competition that offers the organization many learning opportunities and access to new
communities of experts through networking opportunities. Here are a few places where you can learn
about upcoming business plan competitions that may be relevant for your entrepreneurs.

http://studentcompetitions.com
http://www.diasporamarketplace.org/business-plan-competitions
http://www.williamjamesfoundation.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=905
http://www.bizplancompetitions.com
http://www.investorswithoutborders.net/sme-resources/business-competitions

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Running your OWN Venture Competition
Hosting a business plan competition for your organization is a great undertaking and one that will be
rewarding. In the process, you will need to pull together hundreds of people to help. You will want to
encourage as many entrepreneurs as possible to apply, then recruit as many qualified judges as you can
to rate their submissions. In addition, it is great to activate your network of mentors at this time to
provide support to applicants before the competition and continued mentorship to top entrepreneurs
after the competition is over.

Eight essential steps to take:


1. Choose an online platform to host your competition
An online platform can help you run your business competition and is highly recommended.
Online platforms allow participants to easily apply online and learn competition rules. An online
platform may also keep the submissions organized so you can extract key information and
metrics. Additionally, the platform may give administrators the ability to assign judges and to
monitor progress of application judging.
YouNoodle is an example of an online platform that can perform all of the key functions
mentioned above. There are plenty of online competition platforms you may choose from,
including:
o http://YouNoodle.com
o http://www.launcht.com
o http://hometownstartups.com
o http://www.skipsolabs.com
o http://istart.org
o www.pitchburner.com
2. Offer awards
The more attractive the prizes in the competition, the more incentive people have to apply.
Competitions should have an array of benefits to offer to all of the participants and specifically
to the top performing applicants. Your organizations partnerships can come in to strengthen
the award offerings. Perhaps you have partners who would like to sponsor a certain prize, such
as a phone or computer, or mentorship or training to individuals in your entrepreneurial
ecosystem. Awards for the competition can include any combinations of:
o Press coverage in local media arrange the coverage ahead of time with media
o Access to mentorship program
o Cash (if possible)
o Feedback from competition judges for all applicants
o Physical prizes such as phones, software or other devices from sponsors
o Attendance at an upcoming event/s, both local and international

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o

Introductions to key investors or accelerators in your region

3. Create a program announcement for the competition


The program announcement is a centralizing document that takes you through all parts of the
competition and includes the rules and regulations. Many pieces of it are essential to put into
each competition. Consider each of the sections below and how you will customize your
competition announcement.

Choose goals for the competition


The competition can bring together the entire community by being broadly focused. It can be an
event used to motivate and train startup entrepreneurs to professionalize their thinking. It could
be a competition aimed to help tech entrepreneurs with a solid product or service who are on
the verge of international success.

Create eligibility requirements


Target specific types of entrepreneurs in different sectors. For example, idea stage vs. startup
stage. Consider any age restrictions, such as students only or experienced professionals.
Geographic restrictions: From a certain city, the whole country, an entire region? Additionally,
are there specific businesses you do not wish to encourage to apply? If so, you should say so at
the outset. For instance, if your incubator focuses on technology businesses, perhaps you do not
want to fund retail businesses that do not include a web component.

Provide an FAQ document


A good FAQ document will save the organizers of the competition hundreds of hours responding
to emails. With the FAQ document, most questions can be answered ahead of time. As your
competition progresses, you will undoubtedly receive questions that are not available on the
FAQ. You should be prepared to add questions to the FAQ document and regularly update that
document so it becomes a live document that is your helper.

Composition of the submission


Here you have a lot of freedom and flexibility to create the prompts that you think will
encourage your participant to produce work that exhibits their company well, requires strategic
thought and will be a useful exercise. Hosting a business plan competition does not necessarily
mean that you should be looking for a business plan. The competition itself can be more flexible.
What is the essence of the application that you want? Perhaps to convey the idea of the
business in question, the track record of success and how others know the business is headed
for greater success. Formal business plans can take dozens of pages but perhaps your
competition is interested in the practical nature of business. We have provided a template on
questions to ask that will form the composition of the business plan submission to get you
started. You are welcome to modify, add or erase sections you do not like.

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Judging criteria
The criteria is very important to advance the goals of your competition and motivate the
entrepreneurs to focus in certain areas. For each content area of the submission, you should
establish how much that section will be worth and what are the points that a judge should look
for in order to assign a ranking. There is a template provided at the end of this section for your
reference.

Timeline
The timeline keeps everyone on track and sets expectations. This will allow the administrator to
remember judging deadlines, entrepreneurs to know how much time they have to submit, when
they will hear results, and what they should expect to hear in those results. A good idea is to
provide an exact closing deadline, including date and hour along with time zone. For example,
The competition will close on Thursday, October 23 at 11:59pm EST.

Awards
In the program announcement, you also should lay out who gets which awards and how that is
determined. Will you have two levels of judging? Will there be prizes for specific categories?
How will recipients be notified, along with how and when will they collect their awards?
4. Promote the competition
Create Your Message including designing a logo and tagline for the competition. Also, now is a
good time to create a standard text description of the competition. Put the message on various
platforms you manage such as your organizations website and Facebook group. Create a
Facebook event and template emails to send out.
When conducting outreach start with your own network then each out to other groups and ask
them to share the information with their members as well. During the time of a competition is a
good time to build your network, as you are offering opportunities to the community. When you
offer the opportunity to apply to your competition, you are also giving the partner organizations
the chance to offer value to their members. Make sure they agree to pass on the message. You
can include people who are outside of your area use email, social media, and training webinars
to reach out to centers where your organization is not located.
Email Template: Promote competition via partners
5. Manage applicants
People are applying, but make sure they complete their application. Send periodic reminders via
email. Encourage key entrepreneurs in your network to apply and follow up if you do not see

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their names in the list of applicants. Be sure to add all applicants to your organizations mailing
list so they receive your updates.
6. Recruit and manage judges

Judges at VentureOut Challenge Moldova, November 1, 2013

Recruiting the judges. Explain to prospective judges their role and expected time commitment.
If your online platform allows for written feedback, strongly encourage or require your judges to
provide constructively critical feedback. Template emails are included at the end of this section.
Managing the judges. You will need to inform judges when they will be expected to review the
submissions and how they will receive the submissions and transmit their ratings. As you are
able, be sure to monitor the judges ratings and feedback. This way, you are making sure that
they are leaving constructive comments. Make sure to take note of those judges who leave
detailed constructive feedback, and invite them to participate in future competitions. Below are
a few more tips for the judging process.
Consider the amount of time required from your judges. It takes about 20 minutes to
judge one submission, depending on the composition of your contest. A general rule is
to assign a maximum of 30 submissions to a judge. It is better if you spread submissions
among more judges, because then you can see who is eager to judge quickly and you
can assign more companies to those people. Initially, inform the judges of how long they
are estimated to spend on each submission, and ask them how many submissions they
are willing to take on. Let the judges know there may be chances for them to pick up
additional submissions to judge as the judging process continues.
Keep track of the individual judges work plan. Be sure to communicate with each judge
to figure out when they plan on finishing the submissions you have assigned to them.
Some people will judge quickly, efficiently and be ready to take on more applications.
Others will finish only the applications you assign them at the last minute. Take note on
a spreadsheet and if you see they are behind schedule, you can write them for a quick

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update. Be sure you learn which judges are eager to judge more and you can keep them
on hand if some other judges do not finish.
Assign multiple judges to each submission. As a best practice, you should try to assign
three different judges to each submission. This is to average the differences in ratings
the judges may give to the submissions.

7. Announce the winners and distribute prizes


When the winners are chosen, create media announcements and be sure to send massive
amounts of tweets on Twitter (see templates below).
8. Evaluate the participants
Did the applicants find the competition process useful? Ask these questions in a SurveyMonkey or
Google Docs survey:
Which meetings did they attend?
What information did they learn that helped them strengthen their application?
How useful were the meetings in preparing them for the competition? Why?
How much did creating the application help the entrepreneur improve how they
communicated or thought about their venture?
How helpful was the feedback received from judges?
How much has participating in the competition helped the entrepreneur feel a greater
connection to your entrepreneurship community?
Would the entrepreneur leave any comments or suggestions for the competition
organizers?
There is additional information about monitoring and evaluation in a later section in this tool kit.

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Glocal Mentorship
Global and local (glocal) mentorship is a key program that an entrepreneurial organization can offer to
its membership. However, putting together an efficient mentorship program is a bit of an art and
science. We have documents below that will guide you, along with what to expect, and some templates
that will help you bring your program into action. The mentorship template that we suggest consists of
three hours of mentorship meetings over three months. You may also of course modify. However, we
have a timeline below, based on this model.

Dilara Rumstade of Tuning Fork, based in Armenia, receives mentorship from Luca Sale, Blackberry Developer Representative.
October 31, 2013.

Month 1: Design the mentorship program


During the planning stage, it is important to make decisions that will affect all of the future
communications you will have with mentors and mentees. Decide:

Duration of mentorship and how many hours it will consist of.


Will you pay your mentors and how much?
What are the deadlines for application for the entrepreneurs?
Key number of entrepreneurs mentored.
When to host the mentorship program Often, mentorship works best if it is provided before a
high-stakes competition; and the goal of mentorship is to get the business to be successful, so
the entrepreneur can take advantage of the benefits of the program that are offered to the
winners.
Target number of mentors to engage in the program.
Key deliverables youd like the mentorship to achieve.
Training material and guidance youd like to offer to help participants achieve those goals.

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Ways to measure and report on the growth of entrepreneurs skills in the mentorship program.

The Mentorship Program Description gives you text to begin any program description you will develop.
You may use this text for your website, press releases or informing participants.

Month 2: Recruitment of mentors and mentees


It is important to recruit high level, relevant and engaging mentors. Once you have a list of people in
mind, you should reach out to them via phone, in person or email using the method you calculate will
encourage the mentors to participate. Mentorship programs can be a great time to activate people who
really support entrepreneurship, as this gives them a way to really add value to the actions of an
entrepreneur. Additionally, you can consider asking entrepreneur applicants if they already have a
mentor with whom they are working with and if they would like to be a part of this program. This is a
good way to ensure entrepreneurs have a mentor that they have a good working relationship with and
the addition of the mentor to this program gives the entrepreneur a reason and framework to
intensively engage with a mentor.

Email Template: Invitation to Mentor


Mentor Confirmation and Expectations email

Also, it is important to select entrepreneurs who will benefit the most from mentorship, as well as those
who truly are seeking the guidance and will be sure to be proactive and participate in mentorship. For
finding the right entrepreneurs, you may offer mentorship to winners of competitions you host or you
may hold open applications to participate in the mentorship program. If you offer the mentorship to
competition winners, please note that you are offering them the opportunity to APPLY for mentorship.
You should make each entrepreneur apply so that you are sure of their commitment to and desire for
mentorship. Along with ensuring that you have a base of information to share with the mentors in order
to get the mentorship started on a strong foot. Please see a sample application form here: Application
to participate in mentorship program

Month 3: Training of mentees


Training the participants before mentorship is important to ensure that they have the skills necessary to
have a successful relationship with their mentors. Training can be as simple as a 1-2 hour meeting with
all participants going over various concerns. Entrepreneur training topics can include:

How to set meetings


Value of being persistent and proactive in the mentorship relationship
Importance of communication with the mentorship program manager
How to create basic documents that the mentor will be able to further assist them with
o Business Model Canvas

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o
o

Pitch deck and oral presentation of the slides


Elevator pitch

Months 4, 5 and 6: Mentorship and monitoring


During this time, it will be up to the entrepreneur and the mentor to schedule meetings. It can be tough
for a program administrator to be sure that mentorship meetings are occurring and that everyone is
participating. In order to mitigate this, you could require entrepreneurs to report via an online platform
when they have finished mentorship meetings.

Email Template: Introducing Mentor to Mentee


Monthly Mentorship Check-in Survey Template

Month 7: Program evaluation


As with all programs, evaluation is key. Evaluation helps you to see to what extent program goals were
met, how the program can be improved, to find success stories to share when running future programs
and to get more people involved with your organization.

Template Mentorship Documents

Mentorship Program Description (for website, press release, informing participants)

Documents for Mentors

Email Template: Invitation to Mentor


Mentor Confirmation and Expectations Email

Documents for Mentees

Application to Participate in Mentorship Program


Email Template: Introducing Mentor to Mentee

Monitoring and Evaluation surveys related to Mentorship:

Monthly Mentorship Check-in Survey Template


End of program survey for Mentors
End of program survey for Entrepreneurs

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Virtual Trainings and Webinars
Virtual trainings and webinars are a great platform to empower your members to access international
resources and gain knowledge to propel their venture to the next level. Online chats and webinars often
result in entrepreneurs becoming inspired and learning new ideas and tips to start and improve their
technology ventures. Individual entrepreneurs and local enabler organizations may participate in
videoconferences by watching online, encouraging others to watch and by organizing a viewing site.
Hosting a viewing site takes more commitment from the organizers but can create more benefits as
well, as there is added value and greater social capital in gathering entrepreneurs together. Many virtual
trainings about entrepreneurship can be found by searching online, or through partnerships with
organizations and networks you may already have.

Entrepreneurs at mLab South Africa enjoying the VentureOut TechConnect broadcast. Sept. 23, 2013.

Virtual trainings and webinar benefits:

Interact with and learn from successful serial entrepreneurs, investors, or experts of any area of
interest.
Opportunity to send in questions via Twitter or email for an interactive effect.
Get insider perspective on issues global entrepreneurs face.
Become part of the global community furthering entrepreneurial education.
Bring your community together for an exciting international event. While they are together for
the viewing, you can discuss your organizations plans. Use the excitement to further
membership engagement.

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Media and Social Media
The press is a friend of entrepreneurial endeavors such as the one your group creates. As such, it is
important to build a network of press members, journalists and bloggers who can cover your event.
Once you have done that, it is important to involve them in your community, educate them on your
activities and help them to cover your event. Below we have a few template articles that you may use to
help writing various blog posts, press releases, announcements and articles.

Template Documents for Social Media Outreach

How to Write a Press Release A few simple steps for success


Sample Press Release
Sample Tweets

Entrepreneurs at ccHub in Nigeria joining in for TechConnect VentureOut.


September 23, 2013.

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Creating and Managing International Partnerships
Local organizations often can benefit from international partnerships. These partnerships can introduce
organizations and their membership to international resources, funding, expertise and connections. It is
important for a locally-based organization to prove themselves to their international partners and to be
successful so they can continue to grow their network and resource base and support entrepreneurship
in their regions. Below we offer some tools on seeking, deepening and maintaining relationships with
international partner organizations.
See the entire PowerPoint on building international partnerships >>

Participants from all around Europe while at VentureOut's meeting in Moldova. October 30, 2013.

An excerpt from the PowerPoint


Find the partner: Know the types of organizations to reach out to and where to find and connect with
their representatives.
Build the relationship: Start with which ever opportunity for collaboration may present itself, as long as
it fits your incubators goals. Often small projects are a great way to learn how both organizations work
together and to build trust.
Understand what types of collaboration is possible through the partnership you are building:
Understand how the partner in question gets their funding and how they are structured to offer
opportunities. Discuss which opportunities you are interested in signing up for.
Be responsive and show mutual value to the international partner: When you have decided to
collaborate, work your hardest for a positive outcome. Realize that along the way there may be hiccups
but that both parties want the best for your entrepreneurs. Be open to sharing opinions of how the
project is going and the outcomes.

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Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring and evaluation is key for your organization. It is a simple undertaking if planned for in the
beginning of your program. You basically decide what outcomes your programs should produce, tools
your program will use to achieve those outcomes, and how you can measure those outcomes. Below we
have sample surveys that you can use for the various activities that your organization is planning.

Different formats to collect data


Google Forms
Google Forms advantage is that you can send to all
people on a list from your Gmail account by copying
and pasting a huge email address list. Each one will
Students at The Enterprise Hub of Trinidad and
receive the email TO them, not as a BCC, and they
Tobago hearing from experts during TechConnect
will also not be able to see others email addresses.
VentureOut, Sept. 23, 2013
Another advantage is that the survey can be
answered directly in the email message they are reading. There is also a link that takes them to a survey
(more traditional) to fill out the survey. Google Forms is good for shorter or simpler surveys that you are
sending to many people.

SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is the go-to for online surveys. They are easy to complete, and they offer a service to
send out personalized emails to everyone on your list. Then when that person responds, they will
receive no more reminders to fill out the survey. This is a good option when you want 100% survey
participation from a specialized program.

Paper forms
Paper forms are not outdated but can only be used during an event or gathering. They have a very high
rate of response. Be sure to develop the surveys in advance and to schedule 30 minutes for program
evaluation while everyone is still at the event (not at the very end when many people may be ready to
leave). A good time to evaluate is often right before you announce winners of a competition that
everyone participated in.

Recorded interviews
Never underestimate the power of your cell phone to document a great story. You can ask for mentors
or successful entrepreneurs who have a great story to share this with you. You can easily see how these
stories can be integrated into a blog or news post you are creating, sent to your membership for
inspiration and added to your YouTube account to show a history of partnership for entrepreneurial
success.

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When to collect data
Collecting data can occur before, during and after a program. Before hand, you may want a snapshot of
the population of entrepreneurs you will be working with. You could integrate survey questions into the
application process to make data collection easier. When done before the event, you could also use this
survey to understand the kind of help the entrepreneur wants or needs.
It is often appropriate to design smaller check-in surveys that are to be given out at the midpoint of a
prolonged program, such as 1 1/2 months after a three-month mentorship program has begun. This
helps you determine how mentorship (or the other program objectives) are going and to learn if there
are any entrepreneurs you need to assist.
Another key time to survey is directly at the end of a program. This can be at the end of a training or at
the end of a prolonged period. Either way, you should not delay in sending out surveys and collecting
responses. You want the participants to answer while the program is still fresh in their minds.

What type of data to collect


There are two main types of data, qualitative and quantitative. It is popular for programs to report on
both types. Therefore you should plan to collect data from all participants to get a complete quantitative
look at your programs impact. If you are collecting data from the same entrepreneurs over a time
period, be sure to ask the same questions (such as number of employees, amount of monthly revenue,
etc.) so that you can compare growth of the ventures over time. Additionally, you should plan to create
anecdotal success stories that best exemplify the impact your programs have on building capacity,
assisting entrepreneurs, or achieving other organizational goals. You may need to schedule a time to
interview the entrepreneur if you choose to create a case study, article or success story on a particular
entrepreneur. These success stories can also be beneficial to the entrepreneur, as if the context is right,
the success story you write could form a piece of promotional material the entrepreneur can use.

Sample surveys:
These surveys can be used as a foundation as you create your own surveys for your participants.

End of event survey For participants to fill out at the end of a major training or pitching
session.
Mentorship evaluation survey For mentors to share results of the entrepreneurs growth.
Baseline entrepreneur survey Measures metrics of a startup in a point of time. You can use
this survey before a group of entrepreneurs enters into a more intensive program, such as
mentorship or a training you offer.
End of program entrepreneur survey This survey encourages entrepreneurs to share results of
their participation in a wider program including training, pitching and mentorship.

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Additional Resources for Mobile Developers
Tools for Entrepreneurs
Business Model Canvas
Consumer Trend Canvas
Resume Template

Online Resources
SEO for Mobile Apps
MobileDevHQ app store optimization made simple
SearchManSEO mobile SEO for IOS apps
AppCodes iOS app store optimization
AppStoreRankings mobile SEO and keyword optimization
IOS SEO Tutorials excellent primer
Mobile App Store Customer Analytics / Ad Platform
Google Analytics - for Mobile
AppAnnie Apple/Google/Amazon app store analytics
Appfigures mobile analytics and sales data
Mopapp mobile analytics, sales data, rankings
Distimo - Apple/Google/Amazon app store analytics
Xylogics search engine for Apple/Google/Amazon app store
Apptrace app store intelligence
AskingPoint mobile analytics with polling
Flurry - mobile app analytics and traffic acquisition
TestFlight IOS analytics in beta testing on the fly
Apsalar - mobile apps analytics and ads
Count.ly - multiplatform mobile analytics
KeenIO - analytics as an API
Capptain - mobile analytics + push
TapStream - Marketing analytics for apps
Mobile App Location / Ad Platform / Misc
Placed location based analytics for mobile apps and websites
G6Pay pay-per-install platform
Burstly mobile app monetization tools
Yozio campaign tracking and viral optimization for mobile apps
Tapjoy - mobile app turnkey ad platform
Appbackr - market, sell and distribute your apps
Chartboost make money with mobile games

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Playtomic - game analytics for all platforms


Google AdMob monetize and promote your mobile games
Vungle integrate video ads into your apps

SOURCE: http://dailytekk.com/2012/04/23/150-resources-for-tech-startups/#incubators
Non-Governmental Programs

Entrepreneur Week - www.entrepreneurweek.net

Entrepreneur Meetup www.entrepreneur.meetup.com

Global Community for Advancing Studies on Entrepreneurship - www.gcase.org

10,000 Women Initiative - www.goldmansachs.com/citizenship/10000women/

Global Entrepreneurship Leadership Symposium


www.entrepreneurship.intel.com/community/gels-community

Global Entrepreneurship Week - www.unleashingideas.org

Microsoft BizSpark - www.mitef.org

Global Student Entrepreneur Awards - www.gsea.org

YoungEntrepreneur.com - www.youngentrepreneur.com/about-us

Entrepreneurship and Business News

Entrepreneur www.entrepreneur.com News and resources for business, finance, technology,


marketing, startups, etc.
Inc.com www.inc.com News resource for business, finance, technology, leadership and
management, sales, start-ups, etc.
Red Herring www.redherring.com Technology news resources
VentureBeat www.venturebeat.com News resource for technology and finances
Afriqueitnews - www.afriqueitnews.com The leading West African website for tech startup news

Additional Resources

Novoed, the Stanford online learning platform can help you discover new ideas, meet great
students/potential partners in other countries, and create joint projects. https://novoed.com
Templates for mobile app developers http://fieldtestapp.com and http://goesapp.com
Domain name search: https://domai.nr/

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About infoDev - infoDev is a partnership of international development agencies, coordinated and


served by an expert Secretariat housed in the Global ICT Department (GICT) of the World Bank, one of
its key donors and funders. It acts as a neutral convener of dialogue, and as a coordinator of joint action
among bilateral and multilateral donors supporting global sharing of information on ICT for
development (ICT4D), and helping to reduce duplication of efforts and investments. To this end, infoDev
sponsors cutting-edge research and analysis to help identify global best practice in the use of ICT4D.
www.infodev.org
About CRDF Global - Founded in 1995, CRDF Global is an independent nonprofit organization that
promotes international scientific and technical collaboration through grants, technical resources,
training and services. CRDF Global promotes the application of science and technology to economic
growth through international partnerships and training that foster invention, innovation,
entrepreneurship and the commercialization of technology. www.crdfglobal.org

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