Leader

What is the LEADER Project?

LEADER is a student-driven overseas economic development program. It was founded in 1991 by MBA students from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Its mandate is to teach modern business skills to students and entrepreneurs in the newly developing economies of Eastern Europe and Russia.

Each year LEADER sends a team of Ivey students to a number of sites, where they teach foundational business decision making and entrepreneurial skills. Volunteer instructors include undergraduate, MBA, and PhD students. This rich exchange lasts two weeks and benefits the overseas students as well as volunteer instructors.

Has the LEADER project been successful?

Since its inception, LEADER has taught thousands of students in developing economies around the world how to take ownership of business decisions, helping them improve local economic conditions. Many of our students have gone on to start successful entrepreneurial ventures in Media, Finance, and Professional Services to name a few.

LEADER now has a network of over 650 instructor alumni, all graduates of the Ivey Business School. Many of our alumni occupy some of the most senior roles at the world’s largest banks, management consulting firms, and NGOs. Each of them frequently draws upon the rich cross-cultural and leadership knowledge they gained during their time on LEADER.

Entrepreneurial Focus

When we envisioned the Entrepreneurial course, our goal was to reach individuals with talent and ambition to move the former Soviet Union economy forward through their own invention. In order to do that, we had to partner with someone who could best connect with these individuals. We needed a curriculum that provided cutting edge instruction in an environment suitable for learning. After securing a training facility at Agro Soyuz and partnering with the IFC in Ukraine, we set about creating the ideal curriculum.

We worked closely with Eric Morse of the Entrepreneurship Institute at the Richard Ivey School of Business, and greatly appreciate his support and guidance. Our goal was to provide a strong basis for entrepreneurs to be able to compete effectively immediately after opening their businesses. We wanted to target first time entrepreneurs, as we felt these were the people to whom we could add the most value. We created a curriculum of cases and lectures that focused on cash management, entrepreneurial marketing, beginner finance and managerial techniques. Alongside this curriculum, we consulted with our students on a one-to-one basis about their business plans.

In 2004, our original 22 students benefited greatly from this method: their business plans improved considerably by the end of the process. Their closing presentations proved the success we had at pushing them forward. Equally important were the contacts each of them made within their business community.

In 2007, this pilot project was extended throughout the entire LEADER Project, with a teaching focus shift to the entrepreneurship model. Currently, business fundamentals are taught during the day through an entrepreneurial focused curriculum, with individual consulting done in the afternoons. Involving students and business community leaders has allowed LEADER to remain relevant and to better meet the needs of the changing economic conditions within the countries where we operate. We look forward to hearing of more success from our participants in the future as they manage to turn their business venture dreams into a reality.

The LEADER Project for Entrepreneurs graciously acknowledges the recent support from:

Institute for Entrepreneurship: Richard Ivey School - http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/entrepreneurship/

The Richard Ivey School of Business - http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/

Aeroplan - http://www.aeroplan.com/home.do

HBA Program Office

HBA Association (HBAA)

MBA Association (MBAA)

University Students Council (USC) - http://www.usc.uwo.ca/

Ivey Advancement