Title
A development Bank’s strategy on supporting Women Entrepreneurs
Our approach
Our approach to meet the needs of our Client was based on a top-down and bottom-up analysis through primary and secondary information research. It focused on:
- Identifying potential gaps between needs of female entrepreneurs and our Client’s current offering by examining:
Their portfolio to compare it with the market nationwide;
The risk profile of female-owned businesses in our Client’s portfolio.
- Reviewing our Client’s past and current support to female entrepreneurs.
- Understanding the reality of female-owned businesses through a series of in-depth interviews with women business owners;
- Analyzing relevant international literature and information on gender-related needs and best practices in that field and making recommendations on ways our Client could enhance its support to female entrepreneurs.
A LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshop was conducted with internal stakeholders to identify current challenges faced by our Client in serving women entrepreneurs as well as to determine their aspiration vis-à-vis this market segment.
Results
Recommendations were accepted and an action plan developed with our support. The strategy has been rolled-out since 2015.
Case study #2
Title
Emerging and Advanced Technologies - Research findings on commercialization and competitiveness of Canadian firms
Our approach
Our approach was three-phased and focused mainly on examining the commercialization experience of firms that design, develop and manufacture products associated with EaATs in Canada.
The objective was to reach some firms in order to understand:
- The extent to which the firms were “business ready” during commercialization of their product;
- The other factors that played a role in commercialization, specifically the firm’s capabilities;
- The nature of the value proposition of the firms;
- The challenges faced; and,
- Some factors that differentiated the more competitive firms from others.
Phase 1 consisted of a Web-based Survey with responses from 270 firms to provide us the breadth. Phase 2 consisted of a follow-up discussion with 38 firms enhanced by secondary source research to provide us the depth. Finally phase 3 was an analysis to discover some leads to factors that render some firms more competitive than others.
Results
This project led GYConsulting to develop an innovative tool measuring a firm’s competitiveness for use by investors and funding agencies.
Case study #3
Title
Executive team building with a “twist”
Our Approach
GYConsulting offered to facilitate an executive team building one-day workshop applying the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® materials and method with Patrick Lencioni’s “Five Dysfunction of a Team” principles.
A first part was a pre-workshop short survey to measure how the team was doing with respect to the Five Dysfunctions. Results of that survey served as a foundation for the workshop, which was conducted in four phases:
- building individual perspectives of the ideal team;
- building a shared vision of an ideal team;
- identifying the gaps preventing the team from reaching its ideal state; and
- defining the solutions, actions or initiatives as guiding principles to close the gaps.