I think Germany is an exceptional
country with a lot of opportunities for
its citizens this is something I
realized after having lived worked and
travelled across four continents however
something what I noticed and left me
really surprised sad shocked was that
many people don’t believe so there are
many people here that don’t recognize
the opportunities or they don’t think
those opportunities exist for them they
tell other people things are not
possible they tell that to their kids to
the neighbors co-workers sometimes the
children they teach and others this
belief is being reiterated over and over
again and seemingly becomes a fact and
this is belief is what keeps people from
succeeding it keeps them from trying and
it keeps thousands of young children and
young adults from aspiring for something
greater for themselves it keeps them
from building businesses creating jobs
creating art getting involved in
politics or starting initiatives and it
keeps them from building and creating an
economically sound life that is
fulfilling for them and feels great to
them but this does not need to be the
case and it shouldn’t be the case every
one children as well as adults should
feel encouraged to actually reach for
the stars and to touch them according to
the Global Entrepreneurship monitor
in 2015 Germany ranked for the last
decade among the 23 innovation based
economies and the last ranks of people
trying out early-stage entrepreneurial
activity for 47% of Germans the fear of
being discriminated against in case of
failure is a barrier to engage in
entrepreneurial activity and even though
if they would have a positive outlook on
the fear of failure and on the chances
this still wouldn’t automatically mean
that they would engage according to the
Global Entrepreneurship monitor it’s
several pieces and one of them is also
the feeling of capability in experience
and in Germany only 37 percent believe
they have that and only 29 percent of
women so this bothered me a little bit
so I actually started out and I wanted
to create a shift a shift in young
people’s mind and to help them feel the
belief and actually trust in their
capabilities see the opportunities and
train them and how to create for
themselves an economically sound life
that is indeed fulfilling for them that
they have fun with so I started to
create a program together with my team
called rocket bills which is an
entrepreneur program targeted for kids
11 through 16 and it focuses very much
on the underlying emotions that prevent
people from doing things so
entrepreneurship
actually is derived from many things
it’s it’s grit its resilience it’s the
will to achieve something its
persistence its flexibility creativity
curiosity it is as well knowledge and
it’s also skill but above all it is the
belief in one’s own ability and the
opportunity at hand so in Germany when
you look at studies many people think of
new business creation this is what it is
usually connected with and in education
this shows up that many people many
parents teachers but also people in
charge of youth entrepreneurship in
ministries and government mistake
business education entrepreneurial
knowledge with entrepreneurial
initiative training and the mistake and
understanding or the the difference in
definition is understandable but it’s
very unfortunate and unfortunately not
many people who are in charge of youth
entrepreneurship programs had ever had
the opportunity to be an entrepreneur
and actually feel the fears and believes
and what at all matters what effect a
founder so these beliefs however as well
as the social and the cultural
conditioning are the decision makers
whether somebody views his or her life
as an entrepreneurial venture what does
it mean for education business classes
marketing classes business plan
competition will not propel a young
person or an old person to actually have
the self-confidence to tackle problems
economic classes
will not help somebody to get over their
beliefs or fears that have been
instilled through society through
parents through media very recently just
this year a study came out and it showed
that personal initiative training beats
traditional business training in western
Africa to boost businesses profits were
raised by 11% for regular business
training compared to a 30% for training
for initiative training that focuses on
entrepreneurial behavior and proactive
mindset so the key is really to deal
with the emotions first and to create a
shift and then work with the knowledge
so the shift that we need to create in
children or young adults is the feeling
and the confidence of capability of
possibility and of opportunity only if
people feel only if they have a feeling
of ability will they relate the
information that they receive only then
it becomes relevant to them only when
information is relevant to a person will
they use it and learn from it because
you learn by doing things so only then
business information and economic
information will become a tool that
young people will use later on in life
to create an economically sound life
that works for them and only if a person
has the feeling there is an opportunity
meant for them will they go after it so
how do we create that shift in our
program in schools here in Germany so
what we focus on is to basically have
two children create something and then
turn it into reality it can be it’s a
product a service a performance so what
they do is we take them through the
process of a start-up and through all
the frustrations and the struggles and
we help them to have the persistence to
go all the way to the end to work with
their peers with their teammates when
things don’t work out to actually get
the capital the 50 or 100 euros to make
their project work so we take them
through all the steps that they would
later on encounter in their life so we
have 12 components that we use in our
rocket base program as well as other
programs that we create and I just want
to highlight a few of them so I think
one of the most important ones for a
program to really work is that it’s
relevant and that it really addresses
the beliefs that keep people from
aspiring for something and it needs to
be specific to the audience that’s being
addressed because each one has a
different one so there are many aspects
that are globally the same and that can
be used everywhere however if you want
to real like the key to success and the
great impact is if you can manage it to
make it very relevant so it’s very
different for children here in Germany
and it’s different for children maybe in
Myanmar or somewhere else it is
different for girls if you focus on
girls go to an iterative or female
initiative for women 50-plus for PhDs
who have great inventions and want to
get their things out so it that is one
important key factor then the training
is a real-life project what does a
real-life project do it helps them to
learn that they
really master all the problems once
they’ve done it they can replicate it so
everything is very real it is real it is
with real money and they have to do
every single task so they know later on
hey I can do every single task a fourth
component that is very important is the
success so the way we set up the program
is that a lot of questions are being
asked so that kids can actually adapt
their tasks that they can change course
because nothing motivates more than
success so one key aspect that we also
have is the motivation motivating them
to actually work through the problems so
we have people mentoring the kids in the
classes from business where people
coming in from all sorts of businesses
so what is this about a lot of times
people give up and children give up
because they don’t like the way it looks
or because it’s a problem is there so
it’s really making them to work through
those problems because once they did
this is really what puts the lever so I
think what is really inspiring for me
for sure but everyone else who has been
going into programs of ours is the
effect that you can see and the impact
on the children and what you can achieve
in a very short amount of time the
change in mindset and outlook of where
they started and where they’re going to
so one of the key aspects that everybody
is really I think a maze about is once
they pulled through and really our
persistence and hold through it really
gives them a lot of pride working
towards a goal of not giving up and to
actually see problems as an opportunity
for solutions for a product for
something that they later on can
actually generate money with we have
seen many children that come from
families who live on government
subsidies whose parents they haven’t
seen go to work and oftentimes these
children don’t have a picture for their
future they haven’t thought about it or
they don’t have a role model to follow
it and it’s really amazing after a
program how that shifts they do have
dreams and wishes and they aspire for
jobs for things that they can drink
because now they know they can do it
they have made they had the experience
they already they already have
everything that it takes we have one
great example I think a lot of girls can
relate to that and a lot of women in one
school we had project companies and they
were all run by boys no girls were
running them as CEOs and the mentoring
entrepreneurs asked them why that would
it was the case so a girl actually
raised her hand and said well it’s not
that we didn’t want to but we were
scared to say what we wanted to do so
this became a big discussion and what
happened during the next project was
that two girls raised their hand and
said hey we want to be CEOs because we
don’t want the same thing to happen like
last year that we girls don’t stand up
for what we’re saying and those were two
twelve year old girls and this is
amazing because you know what will
change that for them in the future
also this changed it’s boys and their
experience usually what happens is that
the boys 11 to 16 they don’t want to be
told by a girl what to do so what
position do they apply for
yo and it’s not really about whether
they have the skill to manage a team
towards a goal it’s about the reputation
and it’s about power and we’ve seen
quite a few projects where they step
down as CEOs because the workload is too
much for them and they notice that they
don’t have the skill and it takes them
quite a while to come to grasp with that
and they struggle but once they get
through this frustration and they find a
new place in the team it’s not about
boys and girls anymore this disappears
completely it’s about a joint project
that they want to reach and that they
want to achieve and also this joint
working as a team it doesn’t matter
whether those kids are from high-income
families or low-income families
achieving something together as a team
is something that takes them all by
surprise of how strong you can be as a
team that you don’t need to know
everything you just get the other person
who knows it and that you’re not alone
so now imagine actually what it would
look like if young people and young
adults would go after problems and
challenge them with entrepreneurial
solutions an entrepreneurial mindset
whatever the problems are that whatever
we have now as problems our children
will face in the future if we don’t
tackle them as humans it’s our nature to
look for solutions and as adults it is
our duty to support children to believe
in their opportunities in their
abilities in their possibilities and
support them to find solutions for what
we were not able to find solutions for
and whatever the problems they are
whether we have them or they have them
there is a solution out there waiting
for some courageous self-confident
individual to find it and to create a
solution for it
by those who believe they can thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
country with a lot of opportunities for
its citizens this is something I
realized after having lived worked and
travelled across four continents however
something what I noticed and left me
really surprised sad shocked was that
many people don’t believe so there are
many people here that don’t recognize
the opportunities or they don’t think
those opportunities exist for them they
tell other people things are not
possible they tell that to their kids to
the neighbors co-workers sometimes the
children they teach and others this
belief is being reiterated over and over
again and seemingly becomes a fact and
this is belief is what keeps people from
succeeding it keeps them from trying and
it keeps thousands of young children and
young adults from aspiring for something
greater for themselves it keeps them
from building businesses creating jobs
creating art getting involved in
politics or starting initiatives and it
keeps them from building and creating an
economically sound life that is
fulfilling for them and feels great to
them but this does not need to be the
case and it shouldn’t be the case every
one children as well as adults should
feel encouraged to actually reach for
the stars and to touch them according to
the Global Entrepreneurship monitor
in 2015 Germany ranked for the last
decade among the 23 innovation based
economies and the last ranks of people
trying out early-stage entrepreneurial
activity for 47% of Germans the fear of
being discriminated against in case of
failure is a barrier to engage in
entrepreneurial activity and even though
if they would have a positive outlook on
the fear of failure and on the chances
this still wouldn’t automatically mean
that they would engage according to the
Global Entrepreneurship monitor it’s
several pieces and one of them is also
the feeling of capability in experience
and in Germany only 37 percent believe
they have that and only 29 percent of
women so this bothered me a little bit
so I actually started out and I wanted
to create a shift a shift in young
people’s mind and to help them feel the
belief and actually trust in their
capabilities see the opportunities and
train them and how to create for
themselves an economically sound life
that is indeed fulfilling for them that
they have fun with so I started to
create a program together with my team
called rocket bills which is an
entrepreneur program targeted for kids
11 through 16 and it focuses very much
on the underlying emotions that prevent
people from doing things so
entrepreneurship
actually is derived from many things
it’s it’s grit its resilience it’s the
will to achieve something its
persistence its flexibility creativity
curiosity it is as well knowledge and
it’s also skill but above all it is the
belief in one’s own ability and the
opportunity at hand so in Germany when
you look at studies many people think of
new business creation this is what it is
usually connected with and in education
this shows up that many people many
parents teachers but also people in
charge of youth entrepreneurship in
ministries and government mistake
business education entrepreneurial
knowledge with entrepreneurial
initiative training and the mistake and
understanding or the the difference in
definition is understandable but it’s
very unfortunate and unfortunately not
many people who are in charge of youth
entrepreneurship programs had ever had
the opportunity to be an entrepreneur
and actually feel the fears and believes
and what at all matters what effect a
founder so these beliefs however as well
as the social and the cultural
conditioning are the decision makers
whether somebody views his or her life
as an entrepreneurial venture what does
it mean for education business classes
marketing classes business plan
competition will not propel a young
person or an old person to actually have
the self-confidence to tackle problems
economic classes
will not help somebody to get over their
beliefs or fears that have been
instilled through society through
parents through media very recently just
this year a study came out and it showed
that personal initiative training beats
traditional business training in western
Africa to boost businesses profits were
raised by 11% for regular business
training compared to a 30% for training
for initiative training that focuses on
entrepreneurial behavior and proactive
mindset so the key is really to deal
with the emotions first and to create a
shift and then work with the knowledge
so the shift that we need to create in
children or young adults is the feeling
and the confidence of capability of
possibility and of opportunity only if
people feel only if they have a feeling
of ability will they relate the
information that they receive only then
it becomes relevant to them only when
information is relevant to a person will
they use it and learn from it because
you learn by doing things so only then
business information and economic
information will become a tool that
young people will use later on in life
to create an economically sound life
that works for them and only if a person
has the feeling there is an opportunity
meant for them will they go after it so
how do we create that shift in our
program in schools here in Germany so
what we focus on is to basically have
two children create something and then
turn it into reality it can be it’s a
product a service a performance so what
they do is we take them through the
process of a start-up and through all
the frustrations and the struggles and
we help them to have the persistence to
go all the way to the end to work with
their peers with their teammates when
things don’t work out to actually get
the capital the 50 or 100 euros to make
their project work so we take them
through all the steps that they would
later on encounter in their life so we
have 12 components that we use in our
rocket base program as well as other
programs that we create and I just want
to highlight a few of them so I think
one of the most important ones for a
program to really work is that it’s
relevant and that it really addresses
the beliefs that keep people from
aspiring for something and it needs to
be specific to the audience that’s being
addressed because each one has a
different one so there are many aspects
that are globally the same and that can
be used everywhere however if you want
to real like the key to success and the
great impact is if you can manage it to
make it very relevant so it’s very
different for children here in Germany
and it’s different for children maybe in
Myanmar or somewhere else it is
different for girls if you focus on
girls go to an iterative or female
initiative for women 50-plus for PhDs
who have great inventions and want to
get their things out so it that is one
important key factor then the training
is a real-life project what does a
real-life project do it helps them to
learn that they
really master all the problems once
they’ve done it they can replicate it so
everything is very real it is real it is
with real money and they have to do
every single task so they know later on
hey I can do every single task a fourth
component that is very important is the
success so the way we set up the program
is that a lot of questions are being
asked so that kids can actually adapt
their tasks that they can change course
because nothing motivates more than
success so one key aspect that we also
have is the motivation motivating them
to actually work through the problems so
we have people mentoring the kids in the
classes from business where people
coming in from all sorts of businesses
so what is this about a lot of times
people give up and children give up
because they don’t like the way it looks
or because it’s a problem is there so
it’s really making them to work through
those problems because once they did
this is really what puts the lever so I
think what is really inspiring for me
for sure but everyone else who has been
going into programs of ours is the
effect that you can see and the impact
on the children and what you can achieve
in a very short amount of time the
change in mindset and outlook of where
they started and where they’re going to
so one of the key aspects that everybody
is really I think a maze about is once
they pulled through and really our
persistence and hold through it really
gives them a lot of pride working
towards a goal of not giving up and to
actually see problems as an opportunity
for solutions for a product for
something that they later on can
actually generate money with we have
seen many children that come from
families who live on government
subsidies whose parents they haven’t
seen go to work and oftentimes these
children don’t have a picture for their
future they haven’t thought about it or
they don’t have a role model to follow
it and it’s really amazing after a
program how that shifts they do have
dreams and wishes and they aspire for
jobs for things that they can drink
because now they know they can do it
they have made they had the experience
they already they already have
everything that it takes we have one
great example I think a lot of girls can
relate to that and a lot of women in one
school we had project companies and they
were all run by boys no girls were
running them as CEOs and the mentoring
entrepreneurs asked them why that would
it was the case so a girl actually
raised her hand and said well it’s not
that we didn’t want to but we were
scared to say what we wanted to do so
this became a big discussion and what
happened during the next project was
that two girls raised their hand and
said hey we want to be CEOs because we
don’t want the same thing to happen like
last year that we girls don’t stand up
for what we’re saying and those were two
twelve year old girls and this is
amazing because you know what will
change that for them in the future
also this changed it’s boys and their
experience usually what happens is that
the boys 11 to 16 they don’t want to be
told by a girl what to do so what
position do they apply for
yo and it’s not really about whether
they have the skill to manage a team
towards a goal it’s about the reputation
and it’s about power and we’ve seen
quite a few projects where they step
down as CEOs because the workload is too
much for them and they notice that they
don’t have the skill and it takes them
quite a while to come to grasp with that
and they struggle but once they get
through this frustration and they find a
new place in the team it’s not about
boys and girls anymore this disappears
completely it’s about a joint project
that they want to reach and that they
want to achieve and also this joint
working as a team it doesn’t matter
whether those kids are from high-income
families or low-income families
achieving something together as a team
is something that takes them all by
surprise of how strong you can be as a
team that you don’t need to know
everything you just get the other person
who knows it and that you’re not alone
so now imagine actually what it would
look like if young people and young
adults would go after problems and
challenge them with entrepreneurial
solutions an entrepreneurial mindset
whatever the problems are that whatever
we have now as problems our children
will face in the future if we don’t
tackle them as humans it’s our nature to
look for solutions and as adults it is
our duty to support children to believe
in their opportunities in their
abilities in their possibilities and
support them to find solutions for what
we were not able to find solutions for
and whatever the problems they are
whether we have them or they have them
there is a solution out there waiting
for some courageous self-confident
individual to find it and to create a
solution for it
by those who believe they can thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
Please follow and like us: