Global Entrepreneurship Lab

15.389 Global Entrepreneurship Lab

Entrepreneurship in the 21^stcentury is evolving at a rapid pace. Global advances in technology, communication, and capital markets have catalyzed innovative startups that are building successful companies in markets around the globe, in young or emerging entrepreneurial ecosystems. The real world challenges these entrepreneurs face are the focus of Global Entrepreneurship Lab.

Since 2000, Global Entrepreneurship Lab (G-Lab) student teams have delivered insight and analysis to 515 startup and growing companies on 739 projects located in 55 emerging and frontier markets around the world. Our teams work on business problems with sponsoring host companies in critical areas such as fintech, cryptocurrency, mobile apps, digital media, telecom, transportation logistics, venture capital, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. 

This course focuses on measuring and understanding what kinds of entrepreneurship thrive in different countries. Students work with host companies to develop analytical diagnostic frameworks that can be used to better understand any situation. This includes applying macroeconomic, microeconomic, and financial tools – as well as thinking about the role of politics, culture, and other noneconomic variables. G-Lab covers relevant history, as well as the likely trajectory of countries and what kinds of policies can make a difference. 

G-Lab is an interdisciplinary project-based learning course with three specific goals:

• To provide students with insights into the opportunities and problems facing entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
• To structure an intensive project experience for students, in which they work collaboratively with senior leadership at global startups.
• To help students develop their skills of integrated problem framing, in order to understand how organizations in complex environments move to action.