For the Socially Conscious Young Leaders of Industry 4.0

The Young Challengers Program 2023

Enrol in this global training program designed for the social business leaders of today. The Young Challengers Program teaches potential young leaders how to connect with their purpose and supports them to solve challenges faced by real-life social businesses and connect with a vast social business ecosystem.

Learn together with The Grameen Creative Lab, the pioneer of Social Business in Europe.

APPLICATION DEADLINE
22nd May 2023

APPLICATION CLOSED

Designed for socially conscious young leaders of Industry 4.0

Young Challengers Program 2023

Enrol in this global training program designed for the social business leaders of today. The Young Challengers Program teaches potential young leaders how to find their purpose and supports them to solve real-life social business challenges and connect with a vast social business ecosystem.

Learn together with The Grameen Creative Lab, the pioneer of Social Business in Europe.

APPLY NOW

FORMAT

Blended (Live Online + Berlin)

LANGUAGE

English

ELIGIBILITY

18 - 35 years old

PRICE

100% SCHOLARSHIP available until 22nd of May!

Get to meet Young Challengers from all around the world

After completing the online training, you get to meet your team in person at the Young Challengers Experience 2023 in Berlin (Germany), the official Young Challengers gathering in November, and pitch your social business idea to a live jury.
*online in case of unavoidable circumstances

Find your purpose

Align personal and professional goals to boost motivation. Learn how to find purpose and connect it to the social impact you want to have, work remotely, lead effectively, and define a clear vision for your new social business ideas.

Upskill and grow

Learn new tools and skills required in social business entrepreneurship. Learn how to define and solve problems, boost creativity, and how to scale up your social business ideas quickly.

Discover Social Business

Discover social business´ power, learn its principles, design a sustainable social business model, apply growth hacking techniques, and create value propositions and lean presentations.

Ideate and pitch

Collaborate with more young challengers, and design social business models using real case studies to solve social problems. Master pitch fundamentals, storytelling for impact, and internal and external communication techniques.

How can businesses measure and offset their digital CO2 emissions?

Companies and governments are focusing on becoming CO2 neutral or net-zero, but as our workplaces become more digital and hybrid work becomes the norm, we need to consider also the increase in our digital carbon footprint.

We challenge you to develop a B2B social business service to help monitor and offset CO2 digital emissions

How can we accelerate the inclusion of young refugees and immigrants in the job market?

Starting from scratch in a new country brings with it its own set of challenges, from language barriers to qualifications and unemployment.

We challenge you to create innovative models to accelerate social inclusion at scale with social business

How can we ensure that green mobility solutions work in emerging economies?

With green energy solutions becoming adopted by more and more countries, the delivery model of these solutions and questions about the long-term impact on the country's energy infrastructure is also resurfacing, especially in the Global South.

We challenge you to develop a social business plan on charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, starting with a pilot in Bangladesh

How can you market digital microfinance solutions to hard-to-reach areas?

Many social businesses working in hard-to-reach areas struggle with reaching their potential clients with digital products. Marketing solutions that work for urban groups with access to the internet, might not work in rural areas where internet connection is shaky and inaccessible. In microfinance, it becomes even harder to scale such digital solutions.

We challenge you to design a digital social business model to market microfinance services to women in rural areas.

Applications Open

Applications open on 21st April and will close on 22nd May.

Results Announced

Accepted applicants will be notified via email around 29th May.

Program Launch

Join us on 1st September for the launch with Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and get introduced to the challenge so picking one for your team would be easier.

Inner Game

From 8th-15th September, understand your inner purpose and how you can leverage it to achieve social impact within the context of this program through a purpose workshop and tutorial.

Outer Game

From 22nd September to 5th October, upskill yourself through trainings, tutorials, and expert mentoring sessions to learn how to solve the social business challenge you picked with your international group of challengers.

Common Game

Are you ready to pitch your solutions to the jury? From 8th-9th November, you will pitch your idea during the Young Challengers Day to the jury and visit social businesses in the city.

This program gave me countless benefits (invaluable knowledge, new friendships, and networking opportunities with inspiring people) but, most importantly, it left me with an urge to make a positive change in the world and give my individual contribution to reach the 3Zeros goals. I’m grateful to the Young Challengers Program for supporting me to discover and unleash my inner purpose.

The program was well-planned in order to crack the social business concept and assisted me in making new friends from all over the world as well as opening the door to contemplating my own inner purpose and learning from thoughtful lessons. I also did some traveling in different parts of Italy which was both enjoyable and fascinating for me. I hope to put the lessons I've learned into practice, make a positive impact on society and my country and work for Tech4Good.

Complex issues like zero net carbon emissions might seem intimidating to tackle at the individual level. However, the YCP showed me that dialogue with the affected population, data and teamwork could yield ideas and solutions that would have been difficult to have outside the program. I am grateful for the lessons learned and the boost of optimism that the building of our agrotech social business pitch brought.

Young Challengers Program 2021 was a challenging and rewarding course, I got the chance to sharpen my skills in solving environmental and social challenges and picked up a few new ones along the way. I enjoy the value that this experience has already brought to my work and social projects.

It was cool to present our project at the Global Social Business Summit and learn a lot with The Grameen Creative Lab! The Young Challengers Program 2021 was amazing! Excellent studies and discussions about environmental and social challenges and how to develop a social business!

The moderators of the session were very helpful and engaged with everyone which made the program very enjoyable and the mentor I got trained by was one of the most down-to-earth people I've come across. I loved the part that people from different age groups and continents took part in this program.

The world is changing.
Are you up for the challenge?

Young leaders of today are the key to real change and innovative solutions for the most pressing world's problems. What they need are the right tools, the right network, a clear vision, and more opportunities to grow.

Young Challengers Program provides you with everything you need to unleash your potential and make an impact in the world.

APPLICATION CLOSED CONTACT US

Our expert selection committee is looking for future social business leaders who dream of an equal and sustainable world and work hard every day to achieve it. You are the perfect young challenger we are looking for if:

Your age is between 18-35 years old
You are comfortable communicating in English
You express your passion for social impact precisely and clearly
You are motivated to solve a socio-environmental problem and potentially have an idea of a problem you want to solve
You are interested in impacting your communities positively
You are willing to learn and grow personally and professionally

The young challengers can be students, professionals, mid-level employees, aspiring entrepreneurs, startup founders, and freelancers. They all have in common a high motivation and a passion for social impact.

The Young Challengers Program is a hybrid training program consisting of a fully-funded online training from September to November and an in-person final pitch at the Young Challengers Meeting 2023, in Berlin, Germany. Not only do you get to meet changemakers from all across the world, but you will also get to directly interact with Professor Yunus and meet C-Suite Executives of leading social businesses.

The binding time commitment is 25 mandatory hours of training and mentoring spread over two months and 3 mandatory and about 10 voluntary hours at the Young Challengers Meeting 2023, including 2 hours of a personal meeting with Professor Muhammad Yunus and 5 hours of pitching sessions to the jury. We recommend self-studying and connecting with your fellow participants to make the most out of the program.

Supported by the Dutch Post Code Lotterij, YY Foundation and Friends of Social Business, the selected scholarship winners, will be offered the following:

Full training program for free
Expert coaching and mentoring sessions
Tickets, accommodation, and meals to attend the Young Challengers Meeting 2023 in Berlin, Germany.

Please be advised that all supplementary expenses, such as visa and travel insurance fees, will be the responsibility of the applicant.

Meet the young challengers in person during the Young Challengers Meeting 2023, in Berlin, Germany. Get the opportunity to meet your tutors, your peers, and Nobel Laureate 2006 Prof. Muhammad Yunus. The meeting features social business visits, networking sessions and a final pitch on a stage in front of a jury of experts.

The Program is organized by The Grameen Creative Lab.

This program aims to give you the opportunity to challenge yourself and dig deeper into who you are to bring forth the most impactful and socially conscious you in our ever-evolving Industry. You will learn about:

Turning your personal purpose into an actionable Impact plan
Systems & Design thinking Tools
Together we will solve real life social problems through real Case Studies
Create a lean Social Business Canvas
How to Pitch you Business idea to potential stakeholders
Pitch at the end of the Program in front of Social Business Experts and Entrepreneurs
Get Inspired by getting a ticket to the largest Social Business Conference in the world.

The Young Challengers Program 2023