Project Overview
This unit introduces middle school leadership students to social entrepreneurship through the story of Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the founding of the Grameen Bank. Inspired by the concept of “social businesses”—enterprises created specifically to address societal problems in a self-sustaining way—students design their own service-driven business plans and present formal proposals to school administration.
The Challenge
- Target Audience: 7th and 8th-grade leadership students.
- Problem Statement: Standard service projects often lack student ownership, while traditional business units focus heavily on profit over social impact. Additionally, middle schoolers rarely experience the real-world administrative hurdles involved in turning an idea into an active initiative.
- Goal: Create an authentic learning experience where students identify real needs in their local community, pitch ideas, build collaborative teams, and draft formal project proposals to present to school stakeholders.
Instructional Strategy & Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
By the end of this project, students will be able to:
- Analyze the mechanics of micro-loans and social enterprises using historical case studies (The 8th Habit by Stephen Covey / Dr. Muhammad Yunus).
- Develop a structured business plan identifying a target social need, required resources, project timelines, and operational steps.
- Persuade and Present: Draft a formal administrative proposal and pitch the concept to peers to recruit team members and build support.
- Demonstrate Resilience: Evaluate project feedback or administrative rejection, adapting plans constructively when obstacles arise.
Pedagogical Alignment
- Bloom’s Taxonomy: Combines Analysis (evaluating community needs), Creation (drafting complete business proposals), and Evaluation (navigating administrative approval and adjusting for failed proposals).
- Student-Driven Autonomy: Students retain full agency over project selection, deciding whether to lead their own company or join a classmate’s initiative.
Implementation & Execution
- Foundational Discussion: Exploration of micro-finance and social business concepts using the story of the $27 loan in Bangladesh that launched the Grameen Bank.
- Business Plan & Proposal Drafting: Using a standardized proposal template, students formulate concepts designed to serve specific groups (e.g., crocheting beanies for cancer patients, creating blankets for newborns).
- Peer Recruitment & Pitching: Students present their business plans to classmates, choosing to combine efforts into larger venture teams or refine individual proposals.
- Administrative Review & Real-World Friction: Teams submit formal proposals to administration. When proposals encounter administrative roadblocks, students analyze failure points and practice professional pivot strategies.
Results & Impact
- Authentic Leadership Development: Students experienced the complete lifecycle of project management—from ideation and team-building to real-world administrative negotiation.
- Community Connection: Fostered genuine empathy by encouraging students to look beyond the classroom and address needs in their local communities.
- Constructive Resilience: Navigating administrative hurdles turned project delays or rejections into valuable learning moments about policy, compliance, and perseverance.
Social Business Project
While teaching leadership, I found this story in “The 8th Habit” by Stephen Covey about Dr. Muhammad Yunus. Dr. Yunus was an economics professor in Bangladesh in the 1970’s. He discovered that the principles he had learned in the US did not apply to the poverty-stricken area where he was teaching at the time. When he would leave at the end of the day, he would see people starving on the streets and wanted to help. The short version of that story is that he took one of his students to visit these people. They met a woman who worked hard to make stools out of bamboo. It would cost her $0.25 for the bamboo to make the stool. But her supplier would make her sell them back to him for $0.27. She made a profit of $.02. They went around the village to see how many other people were in similar situations and discovered that ALL of the people in that village could get on their feet with an investment of $27 total. He gave it to them as a loan, and they all paid him back. The people he helped began to flourish. Dr. Yunnus sought help for the people from their local banks. They would not invest in the poor because they refused to believe they were credible. Failing to attain funding for these businesses from regular banks, he started his own, the Grameen Bank, which specialized in these tiny loans. He did not stop there. He continued to look for the needs of his community. He started a number of “social businesses”. These are businesses that have the goal of solving a problem rather than making a profit. However, they were meant to be self-sustaining.
This story illustrated how finding our voice is using our talents and passions to solve a need, and in so doing, inspire others to find their voice as well. We had a great discussion concerning this subject in class. We decided to make a small version of our own “social businesses”. Below is a template of the write-up that the students filled out during the planning period. They made business plans and proposals. They would then share their plans with each other to recruit others to their project. They had a choice to stick with their own business or work for someone else. Once they had their “companies,” they would work on a proposal for the administration and try to turn it into a service opportunity. They did not turn into true Social Businesses, but they inspired students to look for ways to serve in their community. I had students make beanies meant for cancer patients, and others make blankets for newborns. Many ideas would get stuck as we tried to get them passed through the admin. This was a great oppotunity to teach how to deal with a failed proposal. It was an amazing project that allowed more autonomy for students.