INTRODUCTION TO THE ROXBOURG MBA+ PROGRAM:

Roxbourg MBA+ Program was incubated at the GoodFestival in 2019. Thanks to the City of Lausanne / State of Vaud and support from mySwitzerland, Swiss Global Enterprise and Swissnex - we have been able to establish GoodFestival as the world’s biggest celebration of sustainable innovation. Since the launch of GoodFestival on 25th of October 2016 and now - we have delivered 39 days of events / 250+ hours of programming to an audience of 4,000+ together with speakers from EPFL, Tesla, the WorldBank Group, UN Global Compact, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, digital switzerland, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Swiss Global Enterprise and 100+ other organizations / over eight different editions. The Roxbourg MBA+ Program will be delivered by independent professionals who are part of the GoodFestival network and have been certified by the Leapfrog Education Accreditation Protocol (LEAP).

LEAPFROG EDUCATION ACCREDITATION PROTOCOL (LEAP):

The mission of Leapfrog Education Accreditation Protocol (LEAP) is to push the boundaries of what is considered an apex higher education qualification for business management based on the principles of sustainability - social, gender and environmental equity. Roxbourg MBA+ Program will equip professionals with all the necessary tools for building a better world.

0. DEFINITIONS:

+ LEAP Certified Session: Any session that has been certified by the Leapfrog Education Accreditation Protocol (LEAP).
+ Leapfrog Education Accreditation Protocol (LEAP): Quality assurance process to standardize the main unit of delivery of the Roxbourg MBA+: the session. After the accreditation is done, each session will be assigned 1 to 2 LEAP Credits and added to the Roxbourg Digital Learning Platform.
+ Roxbourg MBA+: A professional MBA degree that will be rewarded by the Roxbourg Institute of Social Entrepreneurship (RISE) to everyone who completes a total of 120 LEAP Credits.
+ LEAP Credit: Unit for measuring progress as learners move towards completing the requirements for their Roxbourg MBA+ degree. Learners earn 1 to 2 credits by completing 1 session.
+ Session: A session is a combination of presentation and group discussions around one comprehensive subject for example: In-kind sponsorship which can be part of the subject - Fundraising.
+ Subject: One of the 10 subjects that will be part of Roxbourg MBA+. Subjects range from Opportunity Analysis to Reputation Management.
+ Roxbourg Digital Learning Platform: A Google Cloud based platform (inc. directory / payment / on-boarding / learning / collaboration / showcasing / storytelling / broadcast) that will aggregate all the sessions so anyone, anywhere can start learning and get access to courses, coaching, tests, credits, transcripts, certificates and medals.

1. WHY LEAPFROG EDUCATION ACCREDITATION PROTOCOL (LEAP)?

According to statistics from various countries, higher education allows everyone to extend their lifelong earnings and hence lead a better life. As a result the total number of people seeking higher education worldwide has increased from just 30 million in 1970 to 100 million in 2000 to 200 million in 2017 and expected to increase to 600 million by 2040. Let’s peel this onion:+ Around 20% of the 600 million people will be looking for business management qualifications - that’s 120 million people. Most do not have $100,000+ per annum to pay for quality business education over 4 to 6 years.
+ On the other hand there are millions of independent experts who are leading high quality sessions.
+ What if we could accredit individual sessions and offer learners the opportunity to earn credits towards a high quality professional MBA from anywhere, anytime irrespective of their ability to pay.

2. WHAT IS THE LEAP APPROACH?

Create a standard protocol for a session - so learners can earn credits by attending sessions anywhere in the world. This protocol is called Leapfrog Education Accreditation Protocol (LEAP). And a LEAP accredited session will allow learners to earn LEAP Credits by attending the session online, locally or by traveling around the world at their own pace. 120 LEAP Credits = Roxbourg MBA+ degree.

3. OK, SO HOW DOES IT ALL FIT TOGETHER?

+ All sessions can be physically hosted anywhere in the world. All learners will have access to the Roxbourg Digital Learning Platform that will provide access to coaching, tests, credits, transcripts, certificates and medals with full privacy controls.
+ Summary: A Roxbourg MBA+ will be gained by earning 120 LEAP Credits after completing the LEAP Certified Sessions using the Roxbourg Digital Learning Platform and all graduation ceremonies will be at GoodFestival - the world’s biggest celebration of sustainable innovation.

4. WHAT ARE THE 10 SUBJECT AREAS THAT ARE COVERED BY LEAP?

i. Opportunity Analysis & Planning: This can cover both the approach for analyzing opportunities and/or presenting different opportunities - AI, Blockchain, Robotics, Biotech, Low Cost Innovation - from social to deep tech.
ii. Setting up your company: This will cover both the legal aspects but also - how to prepare your company for fundraising by giving up equity or not.
iii. Selling: An alternative form of financing is to generate revenues thus creating a hybrid business model - one that generates profits and another one that focuses on doing good.
iv. Contracts: From sales contracts to employee contracts to defending against litigation inc. IP protection.
v. Resilience: How to remain resilient when the best plans do not work out.
vi. Fundraising: When is the good time to raise funds; how to build a network of stakeholders.
vii. Delivering Customer Service: How to anticipate future customer pain points and turn them into opportunities to build fans.
viii. Managing your Digital Assets: How to leverage what exists on the market and build something unique.
ix. Building your Leadership Team: Doing good alone is rather challenging so how do you start to get people to work with you instead of work for you.
x. Reputation Management: Success means having a large number of stakeholders who have different expectations. How do you fulfill their expectations and manage your reputation?

5. WHAT IS THE LEAP ACCREDITATION PROCESS?

Step 1: Check your eligibility and apply here :
+ You need to be an expert in one of the 10 subject areas defined by LEAP (please see question 4).
+ In order to gauge expertise - we follow the 10/100 rule. You need at least 10 years of experience in your chosen field plus have experience of leading at least 100 sessions.
Step 2: After we review your application, we will schedule a Roxbourg Session to understand your vision.
Step 3: Depending on the call, we will invite you to lead a Startup Thursday (STX) digital session and follow up to provide you the CODE - a common framework for designing and delivering the work sessions.
Step 4: Once your LEAP accredited session is set up on the Roxbourg Digital Learning Platform - you will join the Roxbourg Fellowship (RFX) Track or Roxbourg Expert (REX) Track.

6. WHAT IS THE VALUE OF THE ROXBOURG FELLOWSHIP?

+ As a Roxbourg Fellow, you can offer LEAP accredited sessions for free or a fee.
+ You can nominate candidates for the Roxbourg MBA+ program with 100% scholarship.
+ The alternative to the Roxbourg Fellowship (RFX) is the Roxbourg Experts (REX) Track for super specialists.

7. WHAT IS THE COST OF THE ROXBOURG MBA+ PROGRAM? 

Roxbourg MBA+ Program is independent of the university system and learners at Roxbourg pay a monthly membership fee that you can cancel or upgrade or downgrade anytime. This approach has several advantages including having the option to pay for what you use plus reducing the need to take on big loans upfront and learning directly from the top innovators who are addressing the root causes of social, gender and environmental inequity. More information on Membership Plans >