Leading a Business Course – Uptima Entrepreneur Cooperative

Overview

In our Leading a Business Course, we guide you through a hands-on process for evaluating funding alternatives, presenting to potential funders and navigating a funding process. This course is 12-weeks long and is well suited for entrepreneurs looking to raise funding for a business with social impact.

What You Will Learn

Unit	Topics Covered
Introduction	Discuss how leadership impacts alignment with mission, vision, and values Reconnect with your mission, vision, and values Gain an understanding of yourself as a leader
Starting with You	Look different types of leadership philosophies and what works and what doesn’t work Discuss how you want to show up as the leader of your business Define your personal leadership philosophy
Defining the Culture	Gain an understanding of what comprises company culture Discuss how to design and maintain a company culture that aligns with your business’ purpose and values Use a culture design canvas to describe the company culture you want to create
Organizational Structures	Review different ways teams can be organized and how that impacts decision-making and collaboration Discuss how to align your business’ organizational structure with its purpose, values, and culture Describe how the team will be organized, make decisions, and collaborate
Inspiring a Team	Learn how to enroll potential team members in your business Learn how to use an employee value proposition to attract and retain team members Develop your business’ employee value proposition
Setting Expectations	Gain an understanding on why it’s important to set clear expectations to ensure alignment across the business Learn how to set clear expectations for the team and each individual team member Develop a set of expectations as a team and with each individual team member
Building Trust	Learn why trust is a key factor driving business performance Learn how to build trust and repair trust when it’s been broken Reflect on how you are building trust among team members
Facilitating Team Meetings	Learn how to initiate, plan, and define a meeting’s purpose Gain insight into how to facilitate productive meetings and ensure follow-up on meeting actions Design and get feedback on your regular team meetings
Maintaining Accountability	Discuss what accountability means in your business Learn about processes and tools to track and deliver on business goals Set up project management processes and tools to support accountability across the team
Receiving & Delivering Feedback	Learn about the importance of feedback loops in social impact businesses Learn how team members can effectively receive and deliver feedback Develop processes for receiving and delivering feedback across the team
Having Difficult Conversations	Discuss what conversations are difficult to have and what makes them difficult Explore how to have difficult conversations Create a framework for yourself to handle difficult conversations when they arise
Final Presentations	Present your leadership development plan to your peers and mentors Receive feedback from your peers and mentors to refine your leadership development plan

Prerequisites

Must be making sales to customers or have letters of intent for sales to potential customers, have a basic website and social media for your business, and have an up-to-date business plan and financial forecast.

Commit to Building Your Business

Average time commitment for our Leading a Business Course is 10 hours / week dedicated to building your business, and includes the following weekly activities:

Title	Weekly Activity	Weekly Commitment
Background Materials	Series of required background readings and videos on each unit to be completed online prior to the weekly workshop sessions Describes concepts and their applications in developing a business	1-2 hours / week
Workshops	Weekly workshop sessions led by an expert instructor Lecture and discussion on background materials, group activities, and reflection	3 hours / week
Business Development Activities	Weekly activities focused on your business development Apply concepts learned in background materials and workshops	2-10 hours / week
Peer Mentoring	Weekly video conference with small peer group of other entrepreneurs in your course Present weekly business development activities and receive constructive feedback from peers	1 hour / week
One-on-One Mentoring	Weekly one-on-one meetings with your mentor Discuss business progress, review weekly business development activity, and connect with resources to meet business needs	30 minutes / week

Meet Your Mentors

Apply for Our Entrepreneur Academy

To take our Leading a Business Course, you must be enrolled in our Entrepreneur Academy.

Our Entrepreneur Academy is a year-long entrepreneurship certificate program to support small business owners in creating plans, improving operations, accessing capital, and developing leadership capabilities to build resilient businesses with social impact.

Learn More About Our Entrepreneur Academy

Apply for Our Entrepreneur Academy