WiseNxt pitch

Educaship pitch is a sales pitch that The Economic Group (hereinafter, #The Pitcher) develops, sustains, and markets in order to attract educational partners (hereinafter, #The Partners) into development of introductory work experience, career options, and guided entrances to the labour market for their students in Kenya.

CNMCyber Team (hereinafter, #We), which is a group of #The Pitcher's volunteers, oversees the development on #The Pitcher's side, as well as administers #What practice we envision, and markets the #Products we are to market.

Business needs

With regards to Kenya, business needs of #The Pitcher include building resources for Kenyan youth that enters the workforce. According to "Youth Employment Initiatives in Kenya. Report of a Review Commissioned by the World Bank and Kenya Vision 2030",

Kenya faces a significant unemployment problem with youth being hit hardest. The high unemployment is related to the overall investment climate in the country and the economy’s low capacity to create new jobs. But youth find it particularly difficult to enter the labour market. Reasons for this are complex. They range from deficits in education and skills to lack of work experience, difficulties to obtain information about career options and job chances, irrational recruitment practices of employers, and the lack of necessary assets and attitudes to become self-employed. (Source: https://vision2030.go.ke/publication/youth-employment-initiatives-in-kenya/)

In the nutshell

For 11+ years, #The Pitcher has been developing services for those who are thinking about careers and looking for jobs to begin with. Two services, commercial #Careerprise and free-of-charge #CNMCyber, are designed for adults. The signature service for high-school students is called #iDosvid, which means "and experience" in Ukrainian. The service was originally expected to be launched in Ukraine; however, because of the war there, the launch was postponed.

#iDosvid features artificial intelligence, introductory training, and workplace sandboxes to deliver vocational orientation and work experience to #The Students. Its backbone is job-alike practice, in which #The Students explore various occupations to find the best match. Until target occupations are identified, #The Students can organize meetings, develop IT, operate clouds, and coordinate cyber endeavors that would benefit the public good.

While being placed in the drivers' seats of modern technology, #The Students start their professional experience and earn #Employable credentials. That was why the service was named "And experience" at the first place. Equally importantly, that practice may reveal or, at least, suggest professional aspirations of #The Students. #The Pitcher envisions to use its results for their vocational orientation.

To complete #iDosvid's development, #The Pitcher would like to deploy the DevOps model. #The Students would test the available products during one session and, based on that testing, new products would be developed until the next session.

Such development requires #The Students. Therefore, #The Pitcher is now looking for #The Partners, most likely, high schools or whatever else that can bring a sizeable number of #The Students of school age to #iDosvid or its limited scope version called #WorldOpp Career Camp.

To the partnership, #The Pitcher brings introductory training, workplace sandboxes, supporting technology, and limited financing. From #The Partners, #The Pitcher expects their expertise and #The Students.

30-second pitch

We at #CNMCyber welcome high schools as partners to provide their students with introductory work experience, career options, and guided entrances to the labour market. The students are to explore various occupations, find the best match, and earn employable credentials. To the partnership, we bring introductory training, workplace sandboxes, supporting technology, and limited financing. We expect that our partners would contribute their expertise and student participation. If interested, educaship.com/schools shall get you started.

Learning sequence we use

The #Products we are to market utilize the first three stages of #The Pipeline. These stages are designed to provide #The Students with introductory work experience, career options, and guided entrance, normally, as apprentices to the labour market.

The fourth stage, Educaship Fellowship, combines professional education and apprenticeship. On the fifth stage, Careerprise Employment, #The Students get support while transitioning to professional jobs. If #The Students choose to be self-employed, they receive assets and attitudes to become the ones.

WorldOpp Orientation

WorldOpp Orientation is a brief, no more than 2 hour long, course that is designed to introduce #The Students to the #Learning sequence we use, #What practice we envision, #What services we build, #Products we are to market, #What we already get, #What we can commit to, as well as #Student motivation.

EmployableU Foundation

EmployableU Foundation is a lightweight, about 3-4 hour long, course that is designed to introduce #The Students to general concepts related to careers and career management, as well as employment, employability, self-employment, job markets, labor laws, occupations, professional credentials, recruitment, work characteristics, work arrangements, and workforce development.

CNMCyber Bootcamps

CNMCyber Bootcamps combine #What practice we envision and formal transfer of knowledge that #The Students minimally need for that practice.

What practice we envision

During #CNMCyber Bootcamps, #The Students are going to practice with the non-profit endeavors that would benefit the public good. No practice presents any particular occupation. All of the practices can be met in workspaces across various industries and professions.

When #The Students are legally able to work commercially and if they would like to do so, they are welcome to switch to #Careerprise at any time. To be employed and paid, they would develop those services that can be sold on the market.

Event projects

#The Students are to organize non-sensitive meetings that would be offered to the general public at no cost. Technology user groups such as CNM WordPress Users, CNM Jitsi Users, CNM MediaWiki Users, CNM Moodle Users, etc. would be the primary focus.

Technology projects

#The Students are to develop documentation and prototypes for websites and other technology products. The best draft of a list of available projects is published on the CNM Website Projects wikipage.

Cloud operations

#The Students are to operate existing pieces of technology such as CNM Bureau Farm.

Endeavor coordination

#The Students are to coordinate the endeavors to develop new pieces of technology and operate the existing one. The best draft of a list of available endeavors is published on the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage.

What services we build

According to IDosvid pitch, #We would love to provide #The Students with #Workplace sandboxes, which shall be similar to regular workplace, so #The Students can practice with #What practice we envision in order to explore various professions in order to find the best match and earn #Employable credentials.

Career intelligence

To be advised about their possible career paths, the artificial intelligence requirements shall be defined and implemented as well.

Employable credentials

The certification and recommendation requirements for shall be defined and implemented.

Introductory training

#The Students should receive:

1. System accounts that #Supporting technology shall deliver.
2. Formal training that reflects the #Learning sequence we use and based on #Course prototypes.

Student support

1. CNMCyber events
2. CNM Social
3. To get one-on-one connection, #The Students shall be served with a sufficient number of mentors. The mentors may also provide #The Students with some on-the-job training when needed.

Products we are to market

All the market products #We are working on are built on #Learning sequence we use.

Careerprise

Careerprise is the package of commercial services to those who are on job markets, going to be there, or would like to be employed. The learners who are enrolled in Careerprise]] are supposed to pay for the services they receive and be paid for the services they render.

Unlike the other products that are listed in this section, Careerprise is delivered not by us, but by #VIT. Nevertheless, #We may market Careerprise because of the benefits to #The Students. They are welcome to acquire the services they need at no cost via our own products and, when they are ready to produce valuable services and be paid, switch to Careerprise. #The Students, as well as Careerprise participants, are welcome to go back and forth as many times as they choose so.

CNMCyber

CNMCyber represents the full scope of the first three stages of #The Pipeline delivered free of charge. While practicing, #The Students perform as volunteers. They are not paid for the services they may render; however, they don't pay for the services they receive.

iDosvid

iDosvid represents the full-scope version of #CNMCyber that is specifically tailored to high-school students.

WorldOpp Career Camp

WorldOpp Career Camp is the shortened version of #iDosvid. Both feature full-scope #WorldOpp Orientation and #EmployableU Foundation courses. However, the scope of #CNMCyber Bootcamps including their curriculum, job-alike practice, and guided entrance to the labour market is significantly reduced in comparison with #iDosvid. Those participants of the Camp who are interested in the full scope can switch to #iDosvid at the end of the Camp.

What delivery we anticipate

After-school program

As of now, #We anticipate that #iDosvid would be initially offered as extracurricular activities within some after-school program.

Career days

As of now, #We anticipate that #WorldOpp Career Camp is best delivered as career days in partnership with schools, related not-for-profits, or government organizations that deal with youth and youth employment. Our expertise in organizing such events is extensive; our first career day occurred in a Microsoft store in Tyson's Corner, Virginia on June 12th, 2012 -- https://www.meetup.com/techdc/photos/9029432/

Global extensions

As of now, #We would like to consider global extensions when the schools in which #iDosvid is initially launched can collaborate; for instance, members of one team can participate from different countries such as Ukraine (where #iDosvid was supposed to be introduced originally), Kenya (where #iDosvid should be eventually introduced), and USA (where an "adult" version of #iDosvid called #CNMCyber was developed at first place).

What we already get

Course prototypes

#We have developed several course prototypes:

1. Initially, #We have built two courses, #WorldOpp Orientation and #EmployableU Foundation, as well as drafted the third one, #CNMCyber Bootcamps, in English and published them on CNM Cert.
2. Later, #We translated the courses into Russian, introduced them in Ukraine, and advanced them to minimal viable products (MVPs). In total, they served about 2,000 learners.
3. Next, #We translated the courses into Ukrainian to use them in Ukrainian-language, original version of #iDosvid.

Workplace sandboxes

About 80% of MVP complete

Supporting technology

About 67% of MVP complete

What we can commit to

Advisory committee

#We consider creating International Council for Vocational Orientation.

Fundraising assistance

Private and government donors.

Limited financing

Self-explanatory.

Technology

#We will work until 100% of MVP complete

What we need

#We are developing #What services we build, but the development goes slowly. The services are just partially available at the moment. To expedite the development, #We look for #The Partners' help.

Access to our cloud

To access the technology, #The Students should have:

1. Internet connection. #We may reimburse access expenses partially or wholly.
2. Computing devices such as smartphones or laptops. #We may work on fundraising for the devices, their storage, and transportation.
3. If the service is offered onsite, location such as a class or another room. #We can further pitch potential donors to make this room look like a real-world workspace with, for instance, office cubicles.

Expertise

Someone from senior management position or executive-level retiree would participate in the #Advisory committee. Particularly, that council would discuss what needs to be created, where to source its developers, how to deploy, etc. #We can treat that help as consulting.

Staffers on the ground

#The Students should have at least a couple of staffers on the ground. The target number of the staffers should depend on the number of students.

The Students

For the purposes of this wikipage, the Students refer to recipients of #What services we build. The #What students we target section of this wikipage describes our target audiences.

While having a solid number of the Students, #We will move the development into the DevOps model. #We will present what #We have to the learners and ask them to practice with what #We have, while new pieces get available.

What students we target

#We welcome #The Students of any walks of life until they believe that #What services we build can help them. Saying that, #We believe that those who would like to identify their occupational calling and professional specialties, should be benefited the most.

Primary audience

#We believe that our primary target audience is high-school students one grade before the graduation class. At that age, the biggest percentage of potential participants are identifying their vocations.

Secondary audiences

• School students before the grade of the #Primary audience, especially, while offering #WorldOpp Career Camp.
• Either school students in the graduation classes or school graduates before the age of majority, while offering #iDosvid specifically.
• Any adult who is on the job market, plan to be there, and is going to be there, while offering #CNMCyber specifically.

What partners we look for

Key requirements

1. Legal entity -- business, government, or not-for-profit
2. Access to people who haven't defined their occupations yet. If these people are minors, access to their custodians as well.

Partnership vs hiring

#The Partners differ from Careerprise contractors. #The Pitcher offers monetary compensation for contractors' services, while hiring contractors. #The Partners can be the contractors as well, but different agreements shall regulate these two roles.

What is to be negotiated

Contract text

Self-explanatory.

Motivations

Including both #Student motivation and #Partner motivation.

Names of products

Are the names listed in the #Products we are to market section of this wikipage good?

Student motivation

Gifts

Such as smartphones, tablets, flashdrives, and laptops. What else?

Job offers

#The Students' successful completion of #What practice we envision automatically leads to an offer to execute the Careerprise contractor agreement regardless of the fact whether they choose to continue with #Apprenticeships or not.

Reimbursements

For instance, the Internet access. What else?

Partner motivation

#We strongly believe that #What practice we envision, #What services we build, #What delivery we anticipate, and other #Student motivation would benefit #The Students, and, therefore, #The Partners. Beyond those, #We would love to negotiate #Administrative fees, #Academic exchange, and #Mutual marketing.

Administrative fees

Some nominal fees for administrating. What else?

Academic exchange

What else?

Mutual marketing

• Partner information on the websites.
• Organizing tech summits such as https://www.meetup.com/techdc/photos/15509362/.
• If we already collaborate on #CNMCyber or #iDosvid in one place, offering #WorldOpp Career Camp in other places.

Compliance

#We would like to make sure that #What practice we envision and #What services we build comply with existing laws.

Employment Act

Kenya's Employment Act regulates employment in that country. Although this law doesn't define employment directly, it may imply that employment in Kenya is a contract, either written or oral, in which one party, an employer, orders another party, an employee, who is an individual, to render specified services, for which the law requires the employer to compensate that individual with wages and salaries.

The law doesn't distinguish between employment, experiential learning, and volunteering. Taking that law literally, one may suggest that schools shouldn't assign any work to students below 13 years of age, as well as pay their students for, let say, homework when they are above 13 years of age. Both theoretical suggestions are nonsense only if ones assume that every work not necessarily requires wages and salaries.

Furthermore, the law doesn't seem to distinguish between a paid employee and independent contractor; for instance, this difference is clarified in the United States in details -- https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-or-employee

#We don't plan to hire any participant as an employee. Even if #We wanted so, #We are a group of volunteers, not a legal entity. Thus, #We cannot be an employer by definition.

As a group of volunteers, #We are affiliated with #The Pitcher, which is incorporated in Michigan, United States, so Kenya's law may not apply. Unlike our experience with Kenyan laws, our expertise with the U.S. laws is solid. What is even more, #The Students would be practicing on our cloud technology, which is physically located in Germany.

To sum up, #We are not going to employ #The Students as the law implies. To avoid any conflicts in complying with the Employment Act, #We would like to reach out to the Kenyan National Employment Authority.

Industrial Training Act

Kenya's Industrial Training Act regulates "industrial training", which it defines as "training for a specified industry". In the meanwhile, our training is not related to any specific industry.

Indeed, the #Products we are to market have their limits. Simply put, #We don't plan to build anything beyond introductory work experience, career options, and guided entrances, normally, as apprentices, to the labour market.

For instance, #CNMCyber Bootcamps cover JavaScript, but do so barely to the extend for a participant to decide whether he or she likes to be a JavaScript developer or administrator. However, #We cannot provide and don't plan to provide #The Students with advanced training in that framework since #We deal with the #Learning sequence we use only.

If a graduate from #iDosvid would like to go to the upper stages of #The Pipeline, #VIT, which runs the upper stages, would connect him or her with advanced training providers. Once again, this matching and, consequently, professional training are beyond of our work's scope. #We develop and administer #CNMCyber, #iDosvid, and #WorldOpp Career Camp only.

To sum up, #We are not going to provide #The Students with "industrial training" as the law defines. To avoid any conflicts in complying with the Industrial Training Act, #We would like to reach out to the Kenyan National Industrial Training Authority.

Used terms

On this very wikipage, a few abbreviations and terms are commonly used.

The Partners

For the purposes of this wikipage, the Partners refer to legal entities that agree to bring #What we need to the partnership and both parties agree to collaborate on delivering #What practice we envision and/or #What services we build, as well as marketing #Products we are to market.

The #What partners we look for section of this wikipage contains our requirements to the Partners.

The Pipeline

For the purposes of this wikipage, the Pipeline refers to WorldOpp Pipeline. The Pipeline is the five-stage process that a not-job-ready individual goes through in order to land his or her job using WorldOpp.

WorldOpp is the economic development programme that features workforce development, employment, and entrepreneurship support. #The Pitcher is going to deliver this programme worldwide. The stages are briefly described in the #Learning sequence we use section of this wikipage.

The Pitcher

For the purposes of this wikipage, the Pitcher refers to The Economic Group, which is a non-profit corporation that is incorporated in Michigan, United States.

VIT

For the purposes of this wikipage, VIT refers to Virginia Institute of Technology LLC, which is a limited liability company that is filed in Virginia, United States. #We don't represent VIT, but mention it because of the benefits it may bring to #The Students. VIT admits the graduates from CNMCyber and iDosvid automatically, while waiving all admission and tuition costs.

We

For the purposes of this wikipage, We, we, and us refer to CNMCyber Team, which is a group of volunteers who are affiliated with #The Pitcher. We develop #What services we build, administer #What practice we envision, and market #Products we are to market.