Building resilience with young entrepreneurs at the UN

​I started collaborating with UNCTAD- Division of Investment & Enterprise (DIAE) in 2017, supporting the 10 young entrepreneurs from developing countries selected for the Start-Ups for SDGs event with pitch preparation over their week in Geneva, during Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2017.

We worked on their personal resilience for their entrepreneurship journey, focusing on the challenges of the week, as well as the forthcoming milestones. Throughout the week, informally in conversations and in sessions, I grounded them in their unique creativity and connected them to their resilience, providing them with a set of tools to access at any time.

Resilience plays a huge part in flourishing as a changemaker and entrepreneur, unlocking new perspectives and enabling you to adapt in a constantly changing environment, to bring your solution to the people who need it. 

Here's what Emily Chin, one of the young entrepreneurs had to say:

I had the wonderful opportunity of working with Elaine as part of UNCTAD's GEW 2017 program finalist. My most memorable interaction was the 15mins #flowinaction moment on the public bus enroute to an event.
It all started as a casual impromptu conversation, which then led to an elevator pitch exercise between Elaine & I.
I must admit, I was caught a little off-guard in the beginning.
That said, I soon realised the session has been not only very helpful for my pitch preparation but also how impactful she was in such a short time. It was indeed a really refreshing approach. I find Elaine's coaching style natural - there is a nice sense of casual #flow to it while being very effective."

I also ran a Flow In Action Innovation Challenge with the audience, as a rapid, interactive download to engage them whilst the Expert Panel were judging the pitches from the young entrepreneurs. Bringing on stage young students to share their ideas in response to the challenge, was a wonderful way of hearing their voices, appetite and hope for new solutions for the planet.

Solution: Entrepreneurship Event
Topic: Resilience, Entrepreneurship, Pitching
Collaborating with: UNCTAD-DIAE
Commissioned by: UNCTAD-DIAE
Date: November 2017

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