Partners Worldwide’s (PW) Growing Entrepreneurial Grit (GEG) project seeks to understand and nurture entrepreneurial grit to enhance business resiliency in marginalized communities. As the pandemic highlighted, some businesses persevered and even thrived, while others succumbed in times of hardship. PW has witnessed evidence of grit characteristics (i.e., persistence and passion) among the 148,800+ entrepreneurs of PW’s global network. Thus, PW asked how can we understand and nurture these characteristics among entrepreneurs? What are the internal and external factors related to grit that affect business resiliency? Specifically, what are the toolsets that nurture grit and business resiliency for entrepreneurs in marginalized communities?
To answer these questions, PW will undertake three interconnected activities: Project Development, Exploratory Research and Prototype/Pilot Toolsets, with the following deliverables:
· Project Development: Select and equip 50 grit champions in five global regions of PW’s vast network
· Research on Grit Factors: Discover grit characteristics and other internal and external factors exhibited by entrepreneurs in marginalized communities who demonstrate business resilience.
· Prototype/Pilot Toolsets: Develop and pilot two contextualized toolsets that nurture grit for business resiliency in marginalized, global communities (i.e.. training modules, case studies, & learning networks).
The desired outcome is for 10,000+ entrepreneurs to engage with newly designed grit toolsets in their communities. During the 24-month GEG project, PW will develop toolsets to improve awareness and nurture grit characteristics so that business resiliency is enhanced.
