GenZ Academy
Youth Social Entrepreneur
Over the years, as we meet more passionate high-school students of Generation Z in China, we have repeatedly identified the lack of a common platform for their entrepreneurial aspirations. Though many of them have impressive ideas to tackle a societal challenge in mind, they often struggle to bring their cause to an end because they are not familiar with business concepts or connected with mentors or teammates.
GenZ Academy for Young Chinese Social Entrepreneurs is our solution.
Founded in 2020, GenZ Academy is a non-profit organization that provides entrepreneurship programs specifically tailored to Chinese youth to start and grow social enterprises. We aim to equip these eager youths with fundamental business acumen and skills, connect them to sponsors and mentors who are genuinely vested, and ultimately incubate their ideas to concrete, sustainable, socially impactful projects and ventures.
Inspire
Empower
Engage
Impact
MISSION
GenZ Academy is established with a single mission to nurture the next generation of Chinese young social entrepreneurs.
Rooted in China yet embracing the world, GenZ Academy alumni will graduate with sufficient skills to make our planet a more sustainable and humane home for all.
Additionally, we aim to create a strong network of these young social entrepreneurs to continue guiding them in to tackling global issues with a local flare and a collaborative mind.
VISION
GenZ Academy aims to empower young Chinese social entrepreneurs through the development of the following core skills essential for success in the future world:
Creativity
to arrive at solutions to global issues with an open mind
Empathy
to tackle important social problems with compassion
Communication
to initiate meaningful dialogues across continents
Perseverance
to remain perpetually passionate for their entrepreneurial endeavors
Social Entrepreneurship Curriculum
Admitted students enroll in a 7-day boarding, immersive and project-based entrepreneurship curriculum to gain fundamental business knowledge, participate in structured company visits, conduct deep dives into various industries, and refine their venture proposal through Socratic style workshops and formal presentations. Students will graduate with an understanding of how businesses are formed, and to apply their understanding to a startup venture they devise and propose.
Gain practical skills and experiences as an entrepreneur to realize their social enterprise ideas from zero to one
Address global challenges under a China context to gain market insights and knowledge through hands-on experiences
Learn vocabulary and concepts essential for business managers; Discover and develop an entrepreneurial business opportunity
Receive personal guidance from esteemed industry insiders and respected mentors
Research market structures and opportunities for a specific startup idea
Join the close-knitted network of high caliber student social entrepreneurs from China
GenZ Launch
The entrepreneurship program will cumulate into a full-day, Shark-Tank style start-up competition: GenZ Launch.
The winning teams will receive seed funding from investors and be invited to join an accelerator.
Qualified students from the Entrepreneurship Curriculum will move onto a two-day, high intensity preparation for the GenZ Launch start-up competition. The workshop will be conducted by experienced investors, seasoned entrepreneurs, industry experts and the likes, who take on the role of Start-up Coaches for mentoring and guidance.
Successful social enterprises from the competition will receive:
Opportunity to start their social ventures in real life with seed funding from investors
1st place: 80,000 RMB
2nd place: 50,000 RMB
3rd place: 30,000 RMB
Opportunity to join accelerator
Shadow successful entrepreneurs from numerous industries and receive personal guidance, future internship opportunities, etc.
Faculty System
GenZ Academy firmly believes in the power of coaching and mentorship. We are offering the following three types of mentorship specifically designed to address various needs at different stages of the entrepreneurship journey for all the students
Visiting Professionals (VP)
VP’s are successful entrepreneurs, business leaders, industry insiders with years of experiences under their belt. They will host students at their companies and provide specific lessons on various aspects of running a business. VP’s will hold small-group lectures as well as help students digest and synthesize knowledge from their field trips.
John Van Fleet
Academic Director
Joanna Cheung
VP
Maurice Li
VP
Vicky Liu
VP
Jennifer Ma
VP
Maureen Ng
VP
Hansong Qu
VP
Max Song
VP
Ziliang Yang
VP
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Start-up Coaches (SC)
SC’s are experienced investors who are veteran in assessing businesses in various industries. They will be working closely with student groups who have advanced into the GenZ Launch preparation phase to provide personal guidance to each group on business plan, market feasibility, launch plan, etc. They will provide a real-life perspective on the valuation and positioning of each social enterprise for students to finalize their product and conduct mock-ups for the competition.
Teaching Assistants (TA)
TAs are current students at prestigious US or UK universities or business programs who work as peer counselors to each student group. They are in charge of daily logistics at the program to ensure that it runs smoothly as well as provide advice, professional or personal, to foster each student’s individual growth.
Chang Che
Barry Wu
Sunny Li
Ashley Fu
GenZ Academy 2022 Tuition
The tuition fee covers the cost of the entire academic curriculum, materials, activities and insurance which also includes living cost and food expenses. It does not cover any students' private consumption or any expenses caused by policy factors and Force Majeure.