At a venture creation program (VCP1), students are expected to start a real-life business venture as formal part of their studies. Common characteristics of these programs are that the students are expected to interact with real-life potential customers and partners, that they are expected to manage real-life resources such as money, products, sales materials and sometimes even staff. There are two different types of venture creation programs – mini-venture creation programs and full-venture creation programs.
Mini-venture creation programs (mini-VCPs)
A mini-venture is a venture that already from the start is planned to be terminated towards the end of the education program. Setting up and then liquidating the venture is done only as a means towards learning. Even if the venture would be successful on the market, it is nevertheless terminated after the program has ended. The most common mini-VCP is offered by the Junior Achievement / Young Enterprise organizations. More than 10 million students are reached by their mini-venture activities every year, delivered by around 450.000 staff in 100 countries.
Full-venture creation programs (full-VCPs)
A full-venture is a venture that is started with an intention to incorporate it if the students become successful in their attempt to start a venture. The fact that students will end up employing themselves if successful means that a full-VCP is always the last step in an educational journey. Otherwise it would be irresponsible from the part of the teacher. The most common full-venture creation programs are found on master and MBA level university education. Those students that succeed in starting a real-life venture then end up employing themselves as co-founders and CEO / COO / CTO of the new venture.
