One of the most essential questions any entrepreneur must answer before embarking on the start of a new business is who will buy your product. Starting cold, that is, starting from scratch without any customer base is one of the most challenging obstacles any new business has to face. In fact, I'd be willing to say it's one of the biggest causes for failure for small businesses-- no matter how good an idea is, how precisely executed a plan may be, without people willing to buy the business isn't going anywhere.
Having thought about that, I've tried diligently to build relationships with entities that control vast markets for My Foresight Education LLC. As many of you know from reading previous posts, I dedicated almost all of my spare (and sometimes not-so-spare) time to the International Affairs Association at Boston University and Model United Nations. During my time at BU, I made some incredible connections. I urge every entrepreneur out there to keep track of all the people you meet and develop relationships with them.
[Sidebar: Please understand, I'm not advocating that fake "networking" that you'll hear about from so many people. Get involved in what other people are doing and look for groups that share your common passion. Believe me, you'll meet hundred, if not thousands, of people with shared interests. Work with them, help them succeed, ask how you can help. You never know when you'll need a helping hand.]
Here are two avenues that My Foresight Education is exploring as potential strategic partners. Within the next two weeks, I'll be sure to update everyone with the outcomes.
Weland International
Estimated Year-1 Value of Partnership: $175,000
Weland International is an education and Model United Nations facilitator located in Beijing, China. Last year they hosted the largest Model UN conference in Asia with more than 2,200 high school students participating. I was privileged enough to lead 6 BU students to Beijing to help organize and run the conference, meeting some truly inspiring people in the process.
I met with their Board of Directors and after representing BUIAA (www.buiaa.org), I had the opportunity to discuss My Foresight Education with some of the Board members. Within the next week, I will hopefully be presenting to the full Board to pitch a partnership agreement.
This is truly a monumental opportunity. The pitch is simple: MFE will provide a 5-week Model UN preparation course for all of the students which Weland represents (roughly 6,000; though that number is misleading because Model UN is currently growing at an approximate rate of 33% per annum in China and Weland controls over 75% of the market). Chinese students will become more comfortable with Model UN as a system, get an opportunity to practice their English skills with interaction from qualified collegiate instructors, and Weland will get a percentage of revenue for each student who enrolls.
Boston University
Estimated Year-1 Value of Partnership: TBD
The Alma Mater. One of the most crucial steps I took when I was researching the opportunity behind MFE was developing a relationship with an advisor. Every start-up should have one.
Luckily, Mr. Erik Molander has been generous enough to donate some of his time to helping me develop a value proposition, MFE's business plan, and now our strategic implementation. Evenmore, he's used his connections within Boston University's Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization (ITEC) to organize a meeting on my behalf with the Provost's office to discuss a potential partnership.
Distance education is one of the fastest growing fields in education within the last 50 years. What's more is that unlike previous education trends, distance education is profitable. Boston University currently supports one of the largest distance education schools in the country, Metropolitan College. Now, a potential partnership with My Foresight Education will allow BU to continue to expand, giving high school students around the world the chance to experience a BU education and showcase their talents before even applying to college.
In addition, MFE gives BU professors and graduate assistants the opportunity to add distance education course curriculum and teaching to their portfolio.
I can't underestimate how HUGE this partnership would be to unlocking further relationships with colleges and universities. As soon as I know more, I'll make sure to let everyone know.
Given My Foresight Education's mission statement, why have you chosen Model United Nations as a means of furthering students' abilities in future endeavors?
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