Real Time Learning. Practical Approaches. Immediate Application.

Growing the entrepreneurial business requires being able to change the business while continuing to run the business.

Leverage your time and resources effectively with the Master in Entrepreneurship (ME) program.

In the ME program, your business is your laboratory and your learning is tested not by examinations but through real-life applications. The AIM ME is not just about education, it is about building capacity —  for you and your business.

Why the ME program

Entrepreneurs sometimes feel like they’re teetering between imminent success and failure. You wonder about taking that next big step. Because that step can either make or break your company.

How do you assess risk and reward? How do you drive revenue without burning cash? or burning out? How do you integrate personal and business goals? How do you balance social impact with market realities? How do you see beyond the hype to effectively mine opportunities?

Leverage your time and resources effectively with the Master in Entrepreneurship (ME) program. Take two days every two weeks to really focus on your business.

The ME program is not just talking heads and endless slides. It is real-time learning with practical and immediate application.

About the ME

The Master in Entrepreneurship (ME) is an 18-month program designed to help entrepreneurs leverage their time and resources, grow their business, and balance business and personal goals.

The ME is intended for owners, presidents, general managers, and heads of strategic business units (SBUs). It is designed specifically for the leader of an entrepreneurial business and focuses on developing high-impact organizational leadership skills and realistic approaches to value creation and growth.

The aim of the ME is to help entrepreneurs create a solid platform for long-term business growth, while taking into account the realities of the entrepreneur’s time and resources. Understanding that the entrepreneurial leader provides much of the energy and inspiration for the entrepreneurial business, the program takes an explicit approach to balancing business and personal goals.

 

Learning in the ME

Balance personal goals and business vision

In an entrepreneurial business, the leader is often the main source of energy and inspiration. Sustaining this personal energy means being able to pay attention to personal goals and concerns, not just business targets. The ME takes an explicit approach to balancing business and personal concerns. At the end of the program, the entrepreneur prepares a personal plan and a business plan.

Learning by doing

The heart of the program is learning by doing. There are no essays or examinations. The business is the entrepreneur’s real-time laboratory. On-campus sessions are complemented through practical applications to the entrepreneur’s personal realities and business situation. Learning is enhanced by critique from faculty, entrepreneur mentors, and entrepreneur classmates. Instead of a thesis, the ME ends with a five-year personal plan and a five-year business plan.

Learning from Mentors

Students will be able to consult functional area ME mentors as well as subject matter experts in specific topics such as marketing in the digital space, systems thinking, and negotiations. They will also be able to harness the diverse expertise of industry mentors on a per project basis. Site visits by mentors and tutors provide on-the-ground individualized learning opportunities. This pool of industry mentors includes AIM alumni who are founders and directors of ventures throughout the region.

Practitioner-based learning

AIM is a case method school. A significant proportion of on-campus sessions are devoted to discussions of management cases. These cases illustrate real-life problems in the form of narratives. These narratives provide students with an opportunity to apply ideas, frameworks, and skills to real-life problems in a safe environment. The case discussions deepen understanding.

In addition, another significant proportion of on-campus sessions are devoted to reporting of applications to student businesses and personal situations. Critiquing and discussion of these projects among faculty and students allow the entrepreneur to learn from every classmate’s experience and situation.

Learning from Others

The ME is composed of owners, presidents, and general managers. Most of the on-campus sessions are devoted to discussions of real-life situations, including the entrepreneur’s actual situations. Through these discussions, each entrepreneur benefits from the advice of a whole class of other entrepreneurs.

ME students may take an optional international study tour, which will provide them with a chance to understand the opportunities and challenges of other international markets.

Time Commitment

On-campus sessions are normally held in sessions of two whole days every two weeks. At the beginning of the program, students attend the 12-day Program Launch: an on-campus foundation program delivered four days a week for three weeks. The program ends with ten days of on-campus sessions delivered over three weeks.

 

The Curriculum

The first 12 days is an immersive experience involving four days each week for three weeks. This continuous 12-day course aims to help students develop self-awareness, mindfulness, and an understanding of their personal definition of effectiveness; understand and manage their emotions; and find approaches for unleashing their passion, energy and self-motivation.

Term 1

The Entrepreneur’s Toolkit:
Focus on Fundamentals

• Focusing on key areas of the business with a bias to action and quick course corrections, the first term also has a strong focus on self-understanding and self-mastery. Midway through the first term, the entrepreneur is expected to create a one-year plan for the business as well as a one-year learning agenda.

Term 2

Building a Solid Foundation:
Professionalizing and Systematizing

• The key to a sustainable enterprise is a self-regulating operating system. This system must be flexible enough to react quickly to new opportunities but robust enough to impose discipline. After covering all of the main functional areas in the second term, the entrepreneur will have the foundation of the enterprise operating system in place.

Term 3

Crafting a Strategic Growth Trajectory:
Scaling and Sustaining

• The third term begins with creating a deeper understanding of business context and emerging trends. The aim here is to help the entrepreneur learn to identify untapped markets, unleash innovation, and unlock capital. This term culminates with the crafting of a five-year personal plan and a five-year business plan.