Women’s Intrapreneurship Program in Rural Areas

1) The little Engineer Women’s Intrapreneurship Program in rural areas was developped by The Little Engineer to build women's capacities in STEM education for them to serve their underprivileged communities by investing in youth. t

The objective of the program is to empower women by building their capacities in business and technical skills so they can generate revenue for themselves and replicate the success of The Little Engineer in their community, while exposing their youth to STEM activities. This is a social franchising model where the women will only pay a royalty and the franchise fee is waived as a gesture to empower and support women in the rural areas. 

Specifically, the program will:
 Build the capacities, business and technical skills of women in remote areas 
 Provide opportunities to underprivileged women in remote areas and boost the economy through intrapreneurship
 Promote essential technology skills for today's global economy through hands-on activities
 Bridge the gap between theory and practice through hands-on STEM activities
 Prepare tomorrow’s talents and raise awareness about STEM-related career options

The pilot aims to test the deployment of STEM activities in 1 of 6 rural areas. 

If we succeed in Lebanon we will succeed all over the world.

Jobs creation and investment in human capital for a better tomorrow is a must everywhere. We developed the solutions and we can replicate and sustain the concept on the local, regional and global level if we have strategic partners believing in our vision.

The Lebanese public school system definitely has other more basic priorities, notwithstanding the fact that it has come under tremendous pressure with the influx of Syrian refugees.It is therefore crucial to find an alternative way to expose Lebanese public school students and students in remote and underprivileged areas to these subjects and career paths. By exposing students to STEM and giving them opportunities to explore STEM-related concepts, they will develop a passion for it and hopefully pursue a job in a STEM field. 

After training the women on how to deliver the STEM  program in rural areas making sure they got all the technical skills and Business skills needed to move on their own .  They will be monitored and coached to be self motivated to generate their own salaries by selling the program at very affordable price to schools and learners in their communities to generate a reasonable income and sustain the program. 

The TLE Women’s Intrapreneurship Program (WIP) aims to build the capacities of 100 women in 20 rural areas while allowing them to expose around 4600 students per area, per year to STEM education. This amounts to a total of 92,000 exposed learners once TLE is operating in these 20 rural areas .

This pilot can also scale to other rural areas faster through sponsorship income.Future sponsors can be banks, automotive, medical, engineering, oil & gas and manufacturing companies. Local and international NGOs can also become partners to roll-out these programs.

Management information System - Number of exposed learners in each area

Increase in Revenues - Targeting the neighborhood

KPIs - Less drop out

We will be bringing technology to remote areas, giving learners their equal opportunities as learner in Urban areas , while engaging women there in STEM education to serve their own communities. Robotics education is expensive and not affordable unless it is sponsored by the government. Our government is dormant and I decided to work in the shadow and find the solution to claim Robotics for all.

Although governments in the MENA region are aware of the vital importance of the sector for economic growth, it remains difficult to introduce these topics to public schools, as high quality STEM programs are known to be quite expensive. It is therefore crucial to find an alternative way to expose Lebanese public school students to these subjects and career paths. By exposing students to STEM and giving them opportunities to explore STEM-related concepts, they will develop a passion for it and hopefully pursue a job in a STEM field. 

We will select the areas based on our networks with NGOs who are investing in women in rural area. We will interview the women who can manage the program, train and delegate.

 We will find the sponsor  to set up the initial investment. '

We will coach and  mentor with continuous support to make a big dream comes true.

The women are expected to get a monthly salary of $553 USD, which is expected to increase by 10% year on year. Any savings from the first year will be reinvested by TLE to launch a new rural area while the savings from the second year will be used to scale their own area by improving their club and increasing resources and outreach.

This pilot can also scale to other rural areas faster through sponsorship income. Potential sponsors that have already been identified are ABC mall, Johnson & Johnson and Applied science CSR. Future sponsors can be banks, automotive, medical, engineering, oil & gas and manufacturing companies. Local and international NGOs can also become partners to roll-out these programs.

Resistance from rural areas’ schools to accept the deployment of the STEM program and to pay the fees for it

Resistance to change and low support from municipalities in rural areas to provide a free location for the out-of-school activities

Insufficient drive from the women in the rural areas who need to be very active in outreach and business development to reach their targets

No extension of the Ministry of Education to other public schools 

http://www.dubaicityinfo.com/cityguide/press_news_17554.aspx

https://www.wamda.com/memakersge/2015/05/engineering-Children-green-TLE

http://www.csrlebanon.com/forum/speakers/RanaElChemaitelly

Simply I would like to expand the social impact I am doing in my country to the global level. I believe that Solve could give me the exposure and visibility to attract potential social investors to support me flying high beyond my borders. We have all the will, passion and expertise to change our world to a better and smarter world by sharing knowledge and supporting each others. Money will follow .

In 2013, The Little Engineer signed a strategic Partnership with Airbus Middle East to deliver regional workshops ( aviation and space) for youth and have since exposed 3500 learners through this program in more than 12 countries.

We currently have no competitors in Lebanon, but ready for the challenge