Importance of our University Partners

One of the most common misconceptions about our work is that because we partner with universities, it must mean the entrepreneurs we work with are university students. 

That isn’t true at all! 

Though we welcome university students to apply to our programs, the demographics of our program participants vary widely. It isn’t required that DELab Participants have a university degree or are of a certain age group. We just strive to recruit passionate innovators who want to launch a social enterprise.

I got a little side-tracked there, so back to the topic at hand… universities. 

Why do we partner with them and what does that partnership look like?

Universities are centers for research, technology, and innovation. We have believed from the earliest day of Flame Tree, that by partnering with universities, Flame Tree’s entrepreneurs will benefit from that expertise. 

For example, we are implementing our AgriBusiness DELab in partnership with the AgriBiz Hub, the innovation and incubation centre within the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Within the university, faculty with both agricultural and business expertise will facilitate sessions and work one-on-one with participants to build out their ideas over the course of the week. The partnership also extends into the DEStudio, where we can link our DEStudio Members with specific types of expertise within LUANAR’s AgriBusiness department. 

We also believe that we add value to the universities by giving them an opportunity to reach social entrepreneurs directly, who may otherwise not interact within the university system. It is really a win-win. 

All in all, the end goal is to provide the best program that we can in order to best serve social entrepreneurs in Malawi.