Research Paper on Balloon Ventures Program

Introduction

Balloon Ventures is a government funded a 12-week program which places volunteers between 18-30 years old from the United Kingdom to African countries such as Uganda, Kenya, and Ghana. The government of the United Kingdom funds the program through International Citizen Service (ICS). It is this organization that partners with implementing organizations such as Volunteering Service Organization (VSO), Raleigh International, Restless Development, among various others. These partnering organizations are professionals with adequate experience in the field of international development with the objective of delivering high-quality volunteering program to youths.

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The Balloon Ventures program involves integrating volunteers from the United Kingdom (UKV's) and local volunteers from African countries such as Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda. The program calls them In Country Volunteers (ICV's). For one to join the program, one must have a passion for entrepreneurship and business and should be committed to the 12-week volunteering placement. The program coordinator works closely with the team leaders to split the volunteers into groups of 3-4, who work with around five entrepreneurs. The volunteers focus on understanding the businesses of their entrepreneurs after training sessions. Volunteers work closely with the entrepreneurs to test business ideas and conduct market research, to improve business ideas. The program allows entrepreneurs who would want financial support to pitch for loans.

The essential stakeholders for this program are the entrepreneurs. Other stakeholders are the volunteers, team leaders, program coordinators, training facilitators, financial institutions, the organization (Director, M & E officer, Loans Officer, This is an evaluation of the impact of Balloon Ventures loans given to entrepreneurs in Africa.

Structure of the Program

Training: Week 1

In the first week of placement, the volunteers meet international teammates (UKVs meet ICVs) and undergo training while spending time and interacting. The training which the volunteers undergo is based on Balloon Ventures enterprise and Business curriculum. The training is about learning the skills which the volunteers will use to equip local businesses to grow.

Create: Week 2-9

During this time, the volunteers spend the majority of the placement time working directly with the entrepreneurs in the field. During this time, they attempt to try out new ideas and help them grow their businesses. The volunteers work on everything from financing to marketing with an objective of creating an impact and improve local businesses.

Pitching: Week 10-11

The pitching week is usually towards the end of the program where the volunteers help the entrepreneurs come up with a pitch which is essential for improving their businesses to the next level. 50% of the entrepreneurs receive this money to promote their various small enterprises.

Purpose of the Program

• To eradicate poverty by equipping entrepreneurs and volunteers with leading business skills
• To work with enterprises and entrepreneurs in Africa
• To build businesses and change lives

Balloon Ventures Fund

The program receives funds from UKAID which it uses to run the program. The need analysis of the program suggested that micro-enterprises fail to grow due to lack of affordable financial assistance. Balloon ventures use its funds to provide micro-small enterprises with flexible, unsecured loans which the organization offers at 0% interest rate. The program receives 62% of its funds directly from Balloon Ventures Fund and 38% from ICS innovation grant.

Program Evaluation Plan

The objective of this evaluation is to establish the extent of impact created by the program. The following questions will guide the evaluation process to establish from the volunteers and the entrepreneurs whether the program is generating the intended impact or not.

Questions to Entrepreneurs: Knowledge and Skills

• What have you gained since you joined the program?
• Have you improved in understanding record keeping?
• Is there any improvement in your self-directed financial knowledge?
• To what extent did you improve in understanding business strategy and marketing?
• Are you able to implement the ideas?
• Can you generate and test new business ideas as a way of improving your business?
• Are you in a better position to independently generate new business ideas and test them?
• Have you improved your skills in customer interaction?

Questions to Entrepreneurs: Psychological Outlook

• Did you manage to increase your confidence in interacting with suppliers and customers?
• Do you believe in yourself as an entrepreneur and in your business?
• Did you manage to increase the profits of your existing business at the end of the program?

The following are the feedback from the various entrepreneurs who were enrolled in the program.

Figure 1: Balloon Ventures Impact. (Source: Balloon ICS Impact Report)

Outcomes

• Is there an increase in profits of existing businesses?
• Is there an increase in the number of entrepreneurs who are willing to join the program?
• Is there an increase in the number of entrepreneurs who employ others?
• Is there an increase in the number of customer per business?

Figure 2: Outcomes (Source: Balloon ICS Impact Report

Type of Information to Collect

To establish a complete evaluation of whether the program creates an impact on the society or not, it is essential to collect adequate information on both the slogan of the organization and the slogan of the volunteers. The slogan of the organization is to "build businesses, change lives" while the slogan of the volunteers is to "challenge yourselves to change your world." The program, therefore, works on defeating poverty through enterprise development. The areas to collect information are:

• Why entrepreneurs choose to work with Balloon Ventures
• Why entrepreneurs decide not to work with other financial institutions and entrepreneurship organizations.
• Are the entrepreneurs comfortable with the financial support offered by the organization and the conditions of providing the loan?
• Do the entrepreneurs need another form of financial support from the organization?
• How can the organization unleash the talent of small-scale entrepreneurs in future to end poverty?
• Which ways does the organization use to support the informal sector as a way of defeating poverty?

Balloon Ventures Input

• 75 hours of training received by each volunteer
• 27 partners involved
• Over 1500 business ideas tested
• Over $59,760 funds disbursed to entrepreneurs through offering loans
• Over 50,000 hours of volunteer support provided to local volunteers
• Balloon Ventures Output
• 18 programmes
• Over 508 entrepreneurs graduating from the program
• Over 349 UKVs and ICVs placed in the program
• Over 300 entrepreneurs receiving funding in the form of loans
• Possible Concerns of the Stakeholders
• Entrepreneurs dropping from the program before graduating
• Not all entrepreneurs secure loans or manage to pitch for loans
• The partnering organizations failing to fund the organization's programs
• Volunteers dropping from the program
• The curriculum might not be customized to meet the demands of the local market
• The challenges highlighted in the curriculum might not be the real ones encountered in the field.

References

Balloonventures.com. Retrieved 2 January 2019, from https://balloonventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/BALLOON-ICS-IMPACT-REPORT-2016_FINAL.pdf

Cochrane, D., Cochrane, D., Pryke, M., Pryke, M., Pryke, M., & Pryke, M. et al. (2018). Impact - Balloon Ventures. Balloonventures.com. Retrieved 2 January 2019, https://balloonventures.com/category/impact/

Our Work. (2017). Balloon Ventures. Retrieved 2 January 2019, from https://balloonventures.com/our-work/

What Makes Balloon Unique to Our Beneficiaries?. (2015). Balloon Ventures. Retrieved 2 January 2019, https://balloonventures.com/impact/what-makes-balloon-unique-to-our-beneficiaries/