Entrepreneurship programs can become overly focused on inspiration and idea generation. The harder work begins when an entrepreneur must test assumptions, understand customers, manage resources and build a process that can survive beyond initial enthusiasm.
Capacity building should therefore include practical tools for customer discovery, value propositions, business model refinement, communication, decision-making and disciplined follow-through.
Mentoring is especially useful when it helps an entrepreneur examine evidence rather than defend an original assumption.
The objective is not merely to produce more ideas. It is to increase the quality of decisions that turn useful ideas into sustainable activity.
