Dianka Diaby, is an alumnus of Tallinn University Social Entrepreneurship MA program. Due to COVID-19, she couldn't travel for her Master's studies and participated in the program online.
Using the project-based learning method, she participated in online classes and at the same time, she was building her business in Guinea.
She shares her experience in this short video.
My name is Dianka Diaby, and I am an alumnus of the SEMA program. I was enrolled in the SEMA program in 2020. But unfortunately, due to COVID, I was forced to study online.
Initially, I was afraid because I had never studied online before. And I didn't want to waste time, and I didn't want to waste my money.
But at the end of the day, this was a blessing in disguise in the sense that I was able to learn the critical aspects of entrepreneurship and, at the same time, start my business right away. So this was possible because of three main factors:
1. The first factor is the way the SEMA program was structured. It was structured in a way that every single day I had more or less the same number of hours of study time. So because of this, I could plan my business activities before or after my study time or both.
Another element of the structure was that everything I was learning could be implemented in real life, in real-time. For example, when we were learning about customer pain points, guess what? I was in the field, learning about my customer's pain points.
2. So, the second factor was also an efficiency factor. The tools I used to study were the same tools I used to run my business. For example, my computer, my internet connection, the desk, and the office space are all common. I didn't have to buy anything new.
3. And the third factor was that when I introduced myself as a student entrepreneur, I noticed people had a lot of empathy for me, making them flexible when it came to working with me.
So at the end of the day, studying online for me was an opportunity to gain theoretical knowledge and expertise in entrepreneurship. But at the same time, it was a factor that enabled me to achieve the results that I was paying for to begin with anyway, which was starting my business.
Here you can read Dianka's more detailed blog post about her business Afrique Capable.
Credentials:
Dianka Diaby, Bsc, MA. Social Entrepreneur, Business Developer, Project Manager
Founder of Afrique Capable: https://acapable.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Afriquecapable
Read more about Tallinn University's online Social Entrepreneurship MA program: