The MOBIpreneur Trainers' Guide: From What We Learned to What You Can Use
As MOBIpreneur draws to a close, one of the things that has been important to us is ensuring that what we have developed during the project does not simply end with the project itself.
Over the last two years, we have researched, developed, tested and refined different ways of making entrepreneurial learning more accessible to adults whose lives do not necessarily fit in with conventional education. What emerged was the MOBIpreneur model: a combination of mobile micro-learning, human mentoring, and community and peer learning, each addressing a different part of the learning process.
We learnt a great deal whilst doing this. Some things worked exactly as we'd hoped, others didn't, and quite a few only became clearer once we put the methodology in front of real entrepreneurs and mentors.
The MOBIpreneur Trainers' Guide brings together these experiences, but it is not intended to be yet another report on what we did. The aim is much more practical: if another organisation, trainer or educator were to use MOBIpreneur, what would they really need to know?
What happens when learning has to adapt to real life?
Entrepreneurs don't arrive perfectly organised into learning modules.
One person might be trying to work out whether anyone will actually pay for their idea. Another might already have customers but be struggling with pricing or cash flow. Someone else might need help with marketing, AI, digital tools or simply deciding what to prioritise next.
And all this happens whilst people are working, running their businesses, looking after their families and dealing with everything else that goes on outside a training programme.
That is why MOBIpreneur's learning programme is modular and needs-based. Participants do not have to start with Module 1 and work through the content in a set order. They can use the resources that are relevant to the challenge they are facing at that moment.
At the same time, our pilot programmes showed us that flexibility still requires structure. Mentoring works best when there is a clear process in place. Participants need to know what is expected of them. Meetings must take place. Actions must be followed up on.
This eventually became one of the simplest ways to describe the model:
The implementation journey is structured, but the learning journey is flexible.
We wanted the Guide to answer the question: "Right, but how do I actually go about doing this?"
The Guide takes organisations through the entire implementation process:
PREPARE → RECRUIT → MATCH → LEARN → SUPPORT → CONNECT → EVALUATE
It explains how to set up the programme, recruit and onboard entrepreneurs, find and match mentors, use mobile learning resources, run the five-session mentoring programme, create meaningful peer-learning opportunities, and evaluate what has changed.
We've also tried to include the things we wish someone had told us before we started.
One of the clearest examples emerged from the relationship between digital learning and mentoring. Initially, we had two strong components: business learning resources and human mentoring. But bringing them together within the same programme did not automatically mean that participants would make the connection between them.
Mentors need to know what resources are available so that they can recognise when something might be useful, but they do not need to become trainers or work with participants following a fixed curriculum.
What we end up with looks more like this:
Business challenge → Relevant MOBIpreneur resource → Reflection → Mentoring discussion → Application
And sometimes the mentoring conversation takes a completely different direction because that is what the entrepreneur needs. The methodology also has to allow room for that.
If you just want to explore, start with the 95 questions
This might actually be the simplest way to understand what we mean by needs-based learning.
MOBIpreneur's learning programme contains 95 practical business topics across five areas: Business Planning and Strategy; Financial Management; Marketing, Sales and CRM; Human Resources and Leadership; and Technology and Innovation.
But rather than starting with the modules, start with a problem.
Will anyone actually pay for my idea?
How do I manage my money when my income is irregular?
How do I explain my value in a way that makes people care?
Do I really need a CRM?
Can AI really help me save time?
How can I grow without burning out?
These are the types of questions around which the learning content is structured.
The Content Map allows you to explore what's available and go straight to something relevant. You don't need to complete Module 1 before Module 2, or Topic 1 before Topic 2. It's a navigation tool, not a curriculum sequence.
So, if you're curious about MOBIpreneur but don't necessarily want to read a full Trainers' Guide just yet, this is probably where I'd start. Find a question that strikes a chord with you and see where it takes you.
And yes, you can use the resources
This is a key reason why we created the Guide.
We're not just describing the methodology. We're sharing the resources developed through MOBIpreneur so that other organisations don't have to recreate everything from scratch.
The Toolkit brings together the Microlearning Course and the Content Map, the mobile learning environment and AI-supported tools, the Mentoring Programme Methodology, the Mentoring Progress Record, the Mentor Feedback Questionnaire, the Pre- and Post-Programme Participant Questionnaires, and the support materials for community activities.
You might want to implement the whole model.
You might already run an entrepreneurship programme and simply want to try out the mentoring methodology.
You might find ten learning topics that are perfect for the entrepreneurs you work with.
You might want to experiment with peer learning.
Or you might take something we've developed, adapt it completely to your context, and discover a better way of doing it.
That's not a problem. That's exactly what we hope will happen.
What happens after MOBIpreneur?
MOBIpreneur was trialled in different countries, with different entrepreneurs, mentors and delivery formats. What remained constant was not a single, rigid delivery model, but the learning logic underpinning it: making business knowledge accessible, linking it to real-world needs, incorporating human interaction where it adds value, and creating opportunities for people to put what they've learnt into practice.
The project may be coming to an end, but the resources need not end here.
So do have a look at them. Explore the Guide, browse through the learning content, borrow whatever is useful, adapt whatever needs adapting, and try it out with the people you work with.
And if you use MOBIpreneur elsewhere, let us know how it went.
For us, that would probably be the best possible outcome: not that the resources remain perfectly preserved as project outputs, but that someone picks them up, uses them and takes them to a place we cannot reach.