Engaging Young Minds for a Stronger Entrepreneurial Future

Under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State, FHI 360 provided 66 European undergraduate students the opportunity to explore U.S. society, culture, and institutions as part of the Study of the U.S. Institute (SUSI) for Student Leaders from Europe Program. These 66 students were divided among three different institutes reflecting their selected areas of interest: Civic Engagement, Social Entrepreneurship and Environmental Issues. Selected for their outstanding commitment to youth leadership, 22 participants traveled to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) to learn the history of Social Entrepreneurship in the United States and how citizen participation has shaped U.S. economic, social and political history.

Participants gather on the campus’ Chattanooga, “C”, at the start of their exchange. Students already began embracing each other as part of a larger international family.

These 22 participants explored Chattanooga and the surrounding Tennessee River Valley’s entrepreneurial culture. Through leadership workshops, volunteer activities, classroom lectures and group discussions over a five-week academic and cultural exchange, participants discovered how communities facilitate incubator culture, design thinking for new ideas, digital technology and access to the STEM fields in education and employment.

Through leadership workshops, students learned the importance of developing micro and macro-level perspectives on leadership that would support success in multicultural environments. Dr. Frank Butler from the UTC School of Business led the students through a Business Simulation Activity—used as a corporate-level training and team-building tool, simulating real-world scenarios in the global market arena—that students had to work in teams to solve. The students felt the activity allowed them to realistically explore how to be global, socially conscious entrepreneurs. Students also explored the role of gender discrimination in the STEM fields and the effects of negative gender stereotyping on the progress of entrepreneurial communities around the world.

Students meet with TechTown staff to learn different problem solving and critically thinking games that the organization uses to support children’s development in technology.

Throughout the academic program, the group participated in a series of volunteer activities to understand the value of civic engagement and how the Chattanooga community is supporting young entrepreneurs. Students met with Cordell Carter, the CEO of TechTown, and learned about the nonprofit organizations work teaching technology and coding to children. The students reported this being one of the most applicable and engaging activities for personal and professional growth within the field of social entrepreneurship.

The students were in Chattanooga during the Fourth of July where they enjoyed a traditional barbeque with backyard fun.

At the end of the program, the participants traveled to Boston, Massachusetts to explore a different landscape of social entrepreneurship in the United States. Visiting the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), which houses the largest number of startups in the United States, left a meaningful impact on the students’ understanding of incubators and startups.

The closing act of the exchange was a Capstone Conference in Washington, DC, where students presented Social Impact Projects they had developed over the course of the program to U.S. Department of State, FHI 360, and university staff and the other two cohorts of passionate emerging student leaders.

Since the exchange, students have returned home with new ideas and an energy to inspire change in their communities. Burak Berk Doluay of Cyprus, has co-founded CyprusInno, the first and largest bi-communal digital platform for Cyprian entrepreneurs to exchange ideas, challenges and opportunities. Through the help of people he met from the SUSI program, he has been able to create a space where “economic freedom, opportunity, and prosperity, as well as entrepreneurial capital, are highly effective peace-building mechanisms.” Today the site connects the northern and southern sides of the island to further empower entrepreneurs to collaborate across borders. He felt the activities of the SUSI program were, “full of knowledge and great inspiration” specifically the values of volunteerism, which “amazed me, [sic] we need more people working together to change things and the United States has proven that its possible.” Burak and other students are the future of Europe and we are excited to host the next cohort of SUSI leaders this summer!