1. Turning Risk into Success: Entrepreneurship for all CTE Courses
Monday, March 5, 2018
3:00 to 4:15 pm
Sacramento Convention Center
Room 306

2. Today’s Agenda Overview: What is “Turning Risk into Success”?
Consists of 28 lessons
Teacher training workshops (next one April 6-7, 2018)
How does it link to Industry Sectors and Multiple Pathways in California’s CTE?
Who is SAGE?
Curriculum
Mentoring
Competition

3. Who are you? Which schools are you from? What courses do you teach?
Why are you interested in business standards?
Building K-12 CTE Communities?
Are you familiar with California’s Career and Technical Education’s Industry Standards/ Multiple Pathways?
SCANS?
Are you interested in entrepreneurship?
Would you like university student “mentors” assigned to your class to become consultants and role models to their younger proteges?

4. Who am I? Dr. Curtis L. DeBerg, founder and director of SAGEGLOBAL
SAGE targets teenagers
Chico State University Professor
Language of Business => A + B + C = E in additional to A = L + E
Assets + Brains + Connections = Equity
Financial Capital + Intellectual Capital + Social Capital = Total Capital
Faculty Adviser to SIFE; 1999
International Champion

5. California’s CTE standards
The Career Technical Education standards and framework bolster California's standards-based education system by incorporating cutting-edge knowledge about career options, technology, and skills required for success in adult life (2005).
15 Industry Sectors
Entrepreneurship pathway is plugged under marketing/sales (
SAGE believes entrepreneurship pervades ALL industry sectors

6. Our Course: “Turning Risk into Success”
28 lessons
Can be a standalone course, or be integrated into existing CTE courses (e.g., one class per week devoted to e-ship)
Chico State mentors are assigned to help the teacher deliver the lessons, in-person or via Skype
Not a “textbook” but a set of 28 tabs; VERY teen-friendly

10. My goal today
To describe a program that can be implemented in ANY CTE Industry Standard/Career Pathway
“Turning Risk into Success” is a course created by
This program helps students acquire the thinking skills necessary to put knowledge to work
The program excites and motivates students to learn, and can bring teachers great individual satisfaction

11. CTE, Industry Sectors and Multiple Pathways
Prepares students for careers and/or higher education
More “experiential” than theoretical
Entrepreneurship can “fit” under almost any pathway (including sales and marketing)

12. SAGE’s Vision and Mission
SAGE Vision
Creating better futures through social enterprises, socially responsible businesses and community service.
SAGE Mission
To help create the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders whose innovations and social enterprises address the major unmet needs of our global community.

13. SAGE fills an unmet need at the high school level…
“…..many youth who want to become entrepreneurs may never be able to realize their dreams. They do not have the necessary knowledge or skills to act on them; they are missing role models or personal relationships to see what it means to be a successful entrepreneur; and they lack encouragement needed to undertake a new venture.”
Walstad and Kourilsky (1999)

14. Entrepreneurship is key….
Companies, academics and NGOs are beginning to see that the private sector can play a KEY ROLE in poverty reduction
Collaboration is crucial (e.g., between the private and public sectors)
Market development at the “bottom of the pyramid” can create millions of new entrepreneurs at the grass roots level—from women working as distributors and entrepreneurs to village-level micro enterprises
“Entrepreneurship on a massive scale is the key.” [Prahalad, p. 2]

15. An Invitation
Do you know at least three students at an area high school who want to start their own socially-responsible business?
Do you want them to help create something that taps into their individual passion?
Do you want them to be matched with university student mentors?
Do you want to help them develop leadership, teamwork and project management skills?
Do they want to travel to Nevada on May 25-27, 2018 to present their business venture to a panel of successful business leaders?
Do you want to inspire your students and empower them to create better futures for themselves? And their children?

16. SAGE Competition #1: SEB
In their annual report and verbal presentation, how effective were the students in demonstrating that they were:
Innovative and Impactful in Operating Their SEB?
Note: Social enterprise businesses (SEBs) directly address social needs through their products or services or through the numbers of disadvantaged people they employ; they can be legally structured either as nonprofits or as for-profit businesses, but in either case must be profitable

17. SAGE Competition #2: SRB
In their annual report and verbal presentation, how effective were the students in demonstrating that they were:
Innovative and Impactful in Operating Their SRB?
Note: Socially responsible businesses (SRBs) are always structured as for-profit businesses; they do not directly address social needs through their products or services or through the numbers of disadvantaged people they employ; instead, they create positive social change indirectly through the practice of corporate social responsibility (e.g., creating and implementing a philanthropic foundation; paying equitable wages to their employees; using environmentally friendly raw materials; providing volunteers to help with community projects; and so on).

18. Why Is This Program So Important?
National data show weakness in financial and entrepreneurial skills among high school students.
SAGE’s “hands-on” experiences create unique and exciting learning opportunities.
When students get the opportunity to lead, there is an incredible burst of energy, creativity and motivation
Through SAGE, financial and entrepreneurial skills improve, whether used in a course or as offered as an extra curricular activity.

19. Why Is This Program So Important?
Gallup survey shows great interest in business ownership among teens. Even though 69% of high school students want to start their own business, 84% of those surveyed report they have no preparation to do so.
SAGE helps students gain skills and knowledge with help from college students, adult mentors, and contact with peers from around the world.

20. Why Is This Program So Important?
Students normally care for others, but are not pro-active about community service.
Sensitivity to needs does not necessarily translate into action.
SAGE has a social enterprise component, in which students:
identify community needs.
decide which community need could be addressed by a social enterprise.
explain the social impact of their enterprise to others.

21. Why Is It Called “SAGE?”
The acronym stands for Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship.
SAGE’s home office is in CALIFORNIA
SAGE is an international NETWORK that links teenagers to university student mentors to advance entrepreneurship in an ethical and socially-responsible manner.

22. What is SAGE – The Details
SAGE provides teens with an opportunity to complete social enterprise businesses (SEBs) or socially-responsible businesses (SRBs)
At the end of the academic year, in May, the student teams showcase their efforts on a national stage (in May 2018, the SAGE USA event will be in Henderson, NV); the winning team in each category qualified to advance to the SAGE World Cup in Durban, South Africa in August
A team of at least three teenagers is first organized and then a “sponsoring organization/ally” is recruited
The size of a team usually ranges from three to thirty members. With guidance from their allies and university mentors, the team must choose to complete one SEB or one SRB (but not both!)
The “referees” for these competitions come from local and international businesses, as well as the civic, nonprofit, and education communities, giving the competitions a true “real world” perspective which helps build team competency.
Cost to participate? ZERO. It’s FREE!

23. How Do You Get Started? Identify your SAGE team members in September
Read the SAGE Handbook (available at
Decide if you want your students to start an SEB or an SRB; brainstorm ideas (hold a contest?!)
Enter your business venture at SAGE HQ
Meet milestones throughout the year
Travel to Nevada to participate in the SAGE USA tournament; the winning team in each category travels to the SAGE World Cup in South Africa

24. Responses to Q & A from Judges
In their oral presentation, how effective were the students in:
Responding to judges’ questions during the mandatory seven-minute Q and A session following the 13-minute oral, multimedia presentation.

25. Additional Considerations
In both competitions, teams will be judged on their ability to demonstrate measurable success in two principal areas
MARKETPLACE VIABILITY: The business must either have achieved profitability already or have defined a believable path toward profitability
SOCIAL IMPACT: The business must demonstrate significant social impact, either through their products and services or through the numbers of disadvantaged people they employ (as a social enterprise) or through the practice of corporate social responsibility (as a socially responsible business)

26. How To Fund A SAGE Team
Identify a sponsoring organization that believes in youth and entrepreneurship
Recruit a Business Advisory Board (BAB) that includes successful entrepreneurs and business leaders
Author grant proposals to companies who fund youth and leadership programs. Example companies that provide financial support include Target, Allstate, Wells Fargo, Bank of the West, Umpqua Bank
As your school’s SAGE program grows, more companies will support you by providing BAB members and financial resources

27. Other Information
Your high school can have many SAGE teams, as long as each team:
Consists of at least three active teens
Selects one SEB or one SRB to focus its effort (but not both)

28. Making A Difference Please join us!
SAGE links teenagers to successful entrepreneurs, business leaders and university student mentors to advance social and commercial entrepreneurship in an ethical and socially-responsible manner.
Please join us!

29. For More Information Contact SAGE Founder and Director:
Dr. Curt DeBerg
SAGE Founder
California State University, Chico
College of Business
Chico, CA