This article was contributed by HP and originally appeared on the Global Entrepreneurship Summit website.
Bill Hewlett and David Packard were two of the original entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley. When they established HP over 75 years ago, they set out to build a company reflective of their entrepreneurial spirit. They went on to create a global business that now employs tens of thousands of people across the world who proudly carry their legacy forward, creating technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere.
Like Bill and Dave, people will always have great ideas — but ideas alone are not enough to succeed. Aspiring entrepreneurs also need the knowledge and skills to map their path to success. HP LIFE (HP Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs), a program of the HP Foundation is just that tool. It can help them open the door to a world of possibilities by offering access to free online micro-courses.
HP LIFE enables learners to acquire the basic business, IT, and entrepreneurship skills they need to realize their ambitions and turn their ideas into reality. The HP LIFE program includes 25 short courses. Each are available in seven languages and cover core business areas like communications, operations, marketing, and finance — otherwise often expensive skills to learn. There are also courses on special topics such as effective leadership, energy efficiency, and social entrepreneurship — providing future entrepreneurs with a fully rounded skill set.
Take Tunisia for example.
While it has made great strides in recent years, youth unemployment rates remain stubbornly high at more than 40%, particularly among young graduates in vulnerable regions of the country. A key goal of the Tunisian government is to create sustainable employment opportunities for its young people in an effort to tackle this issue.
At the end of 2012, HP, USAID, UNIDO, and the Government of Italy implemented a program aimed at creating job opportunities for young people in four particularly disadvantaged regions.
The work has focused on supporting them to learn the skills they need to create a new business or grow an existing one. HP has equipped business support institutions in the four targeted regions with HP technology (notebooks, printers, and projectors) enabling trainers to give their clients the practical tools they need to study and learn. As part of this package, the HP LIFE program has been rolled out in collaboration with government, private partners, private associations, and universities to support entrepreneurial skills development. We made sure courses were available in Arabic and French, so the program is easily accessible for students in the four regions throughout Tunisia.
By March 2016, 16 HP LIFE trainers had integrated the program into their workshops, while 55 university educators now use HP LIFE to enrich their entrepreneurship curricula.
More than 12,000 students and entrepreneurs have accessed HP LIFE training as a result of the project. Out of these, 1,400 have participated in face-to-face HP LIFE training (which includes coaching) and applied the concepts they learned from the program to progress their business projects.
HP LIFE training and coaching has resulted in the creation of 1,035 new jobs and many new businesses in the four targeted regions. The stories of Anis and Najet (pictured above) are some of the most inspiring we’ve heard.
Anis was an unemployed engineering graduate until he spotted a gap in the market and established his business, Assali Electricité et Energie, selling and installing solar panels in Le Kef. At first, Anis didn’t find it easy to convince potential clients about the value of solar panels.
“Something I thought would be a competitive advantage — the fact there was no one else in the solar panel market — actually proved to be a challenge,” he said.
Undeterred, he took the HP LIFE marketing and finance modules enabling him to develop clear messaging for his business and to calculate its breakeven point. Today, his business is thriving. Anis plans to expand his services to include solar water heating systems.
“HP LIFE has helped me in virtually every aspect of my business”, he told HP.
Beyond courses, HP LIFE’s range of supporting features includes an active online community that provides users with the opportunity to network, share experiences, and make new business contacts.
For Najet, who employs 11 people in her own call center in Le Kef, this is an important feature of the program which has given her the confidence and knowledge to begin developing new partnerships and accessing new European markets — a difficult task without skills and training.
Anis and Najet are just two examples among the thousands of entrepreneurs all over the world whose businesses are expanding markets, creating new employment opportunities, and innovating solutions to some of society’s most pressing issues.