Ballard Center faculty fellows Chad Carlos and Shad Morris were recently published in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal for their research, which focuses on how to help Tanzanian entrepreneurs grow their businesses.
Carlos and Morris traveled to the East African country to discover why business skills taught to local entrepreneurs at the University of Dar es Salaam were not achieving measurable results. They used the Ballard Center’s social impact cycle and tools to “love the problem” rather than the solution, and to design, implement, and evaluate a possible intervention.
“We found local business owners had a fear of failing and were not thinking outside of their experience of what it means to grow a business,” says Morris.
The researchers were led to the ideas of Carol Dweck, who studied how a "growth mindset" enables people to obtain more success than a "fixed mindset." The participants were taught skills to challenge their thinking and move past established social norms—infusing new ideas into their businesses.
We were able to use an established solution and apply it to a new situation.
Carlos and Morris' published research successfully applies existing ideas in a new context. “The growth mindset training already existed,” says Carlos. “We were able to use an established solution and apply it to a new situation. It was very satisfying to see the beginnings of growth with these entrepreneurs.”