Business United in Investing, Lending and Developing (BUILD)

Round
Fall-Winter 2002
Project Type
Full team
Project Focus
Expansion or Replication
Organization Type
Children, Youth & Families,
Education

Organization

BUILD’s mission is to provide real-world entrepreneurial experience that empowers youth from under-resourced communities to excel in education, lead in their communities, and succeed professionally. Working with high school age students from East Palo Alto and eastern Menlo Park, BUILD uses entrepreneurship as a vehicle to facilitate learning and teach skills such as leadership, public speaking, and teamwork in addition to fundamental business skills including finance, sales, and marketing.

Project Objectives

BUILD asked for ACT’s assistance in analyzing various opportunities for program replication and the relative feasibility of each model as it relates to partnering with schools/corporations and to cost considerations.

  • Explore replication issues
  • Identify board’s view on replication
  • Analyze the competition
  • Explore replication funding options
  • Develop conclusions and recommendations
    Most appropriate replication model
    Most appropriate funding method

Project Overview

​The ACT team reviewed academic literature on replication, interviewed eight board members and two schools, and created a competitor matrix for BUILD.

Key Recommendations

  • Refine current program
  • Continue expansion into current locale
  • Standardize E1, E2, and E3 programs
  • Expand based on key milestones
  • Designate a replication leader responsible for identifying the next replication site, who is also able to assume role of Site Director
  • Select replication locations based on selection criteria
  • Do not fall into trap of opportunistic expansion

Final Report Outline

- Scope of work

- Summary of key recommendations

- Replication framework:

  • Step 1: Define what you are scaling and determine if it is replicable;
  • Step 2: Assess the opportunity;
  • Step 3: Evaluate your readiness;
  • Step 4: Formulate a scaling-up strategy that fits

- Board feedback

- Competition

- High school interviews

- Summary and recommendations

Other

  • Comparable organizational matrix: BUILD, College Track, Upward Bound, YES / The Enterprise Center, NFTE
  • Competition analysis for NFTE, EDTEC (Education, Training and Enterprise Center), College Track, The Enterprise Center, Junior Achievement, BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life), and BUILD