The Young CEO
Curriculum Map
A 6-week entrepreneurship program where students solve real business challenges for DIFC companies. Deployed solutions, measured impact, paid internships.
29 Aug to 5 Oct
4 groups of 5 to 6
a week, against 3 criteria
for those who clear the bar
Payments for a luxury goods seller
Build a payments service on the Gemba platform for a seller whose buyers sit anywhere from Europe to the Middle East. First client is Luxe Cheshire, who collects from buyers and pays out to staff and suppliers today at a cost they can name.
One side each: collecting from buyers abroad, and paying out to staff and suppliers.
Branded content on Vvanta
Run a content service using Vvanta to make branded video and posts. First client is Protennis Academy. The content has to reach people who do not already follow them, and turn that reach into sign-ups.
One vertical each: sport and fitness, then schools, clinics or F&B. Measured on reach and on sign-ups, not on posts published.
The work happens in the two sessions
Saturday teaches the concept to all 25 and practises it in the room. Monday applies it to your own client with your curator. Between sessions students run simulations that reinforce the same concept, not project work.
How group work runs
Everyone builds their own version first, alone. The group then compares, picks what works, and the curator splits the rebuild into roles. Nobody hands the whole build to the one student who has done it before.
The Mom Test: ask about facts not opinions, about the past not the hypothetical, and attach money or time to every problem.
Qualify a problem: is it big enough, and is there budget to fix it.
- Welcome and how the six weeks run
- Gemba and Vvanta on their platforms, 20 minutes each: what it does, what it cannot do, who pays today and what it costs to run
- The Mom Test taught, then practised in the room on the AI customer
- Every claim is something the client said happened, not something they think
- The problem is sized: how often it happens, and what it costs in time or money
- States whether there is budget to solve it
- Group agrees its top ten questions with the curator
- Fifteen minutes live with the client
- Debrief: what was a fact, what was an opinion
The nine blocks of the Business Model Canvas, and how to size a market.
Research competitors and turn findings into a value proposition.
- Groups read out their problem statements
- Business Model Canvas taught block by block
- How to research a market and how to approach a competitor
- First pass at the canvas in the room
- All nine blocks filled, none left as a placeholder
- The value proposition answers the problem statement from Week 1
- Market size stated, plus at least two competitors and what they charge
- Canvas finished with the curator
- Value proposition tested against the Week 1 problem statement
How to choose which problem to solve first, and what that choice costs the client.
Build a website and present it back to the person whose problem it is.
- Everyone builds their own version of the site first
- Groups compare, pick what works, and the curator splits the rebuild into roles
- How to structure a stakeholder review
- The client has seen it and their feedback is recorded in their words
- Problems ranked, with the first one named and the reason given
- What it costs the client, and why it beats what they do today
- Stakeholder review with the client, live
- Feedback written down as it is given, not summarised afterwards
P&L, gross margin and break-even.
Turn a website into something that works, using the client's feedback.
- P&L taught and built on each group's own numbers
- Build block: the client's feedback turned into the working version
- The Week 3 feedback is visibly built in
- A stranger can complete the main task start to finish without help
- Three assumptions in the P&L, each with a source
- MVP tested end to end with the curator
- Assumptions in the P&L challenged one by one
Conversion rates: how many approaches make a conversation, how many conversations make a demo. What each channel is good for.
Get the MVP in front of people who are not the first client.
- Outreach written and sent in the room
- Pick your channels: LinkedIn outreach and cold email for B2B, Meta and Instagram ads, TikTok ads and organic, short video, podcast, SEO, and GEO, meaning getting the business named when someone asks ChatGPT
- How to handle the first reply
- A curated prospect list, each with a name and a way to reach them
- Conversations, meetings booked and demos given, all documented
- Conversion rates calculated, and one change made because of them. Content groups count reach and sign-ups, not posts
- Numbers reviewed with the curator
- One change agreed and made before the next round
How to tell the story of what was done and what it was worth.
Present as one group, not as five people.
- Run through, thirty minutes
- One pitch per group, five minutes plus five of questions
- What the client's problem was costing, and what the group changed about it
- Evidence that other people have the same problem
- What did not work, what they did instead, and what they would do differently
- Debrief
- Handover to the company, or carry it on
- Who continues with the company, and on what terms
What a student has to do to pass
- All six deliverables at Meets or above
- A prospect list they contributed names to
- Documented conversations, meetings and demos
- Attendance at both sessions each week
Signed clients are recorded and count in the ranking. They are never the pass condition, because closing is not fully in the student's control.
How evidence is scored
- Strong, 3 points. What the customer did, transaction data, an interview, an observed workflow
- Medium, 2 points. Competitor pricing, published research, credible industry data
- Weak, 1 point. What a customer says they might do in future
- Not evidence, 0 points. An AI-generated claim with no source
Used from Week 1, when a problem statement is scored on whether it is fact or opinion.
Sign-off and rework
- Three criteria per deliverable, marked Not yet, Meets or Strong
- Not yet means rework due Thursday, re-checked by the curator without using session time
- Still Not yet: recorded as assisted, and the group moves on
- Nothing blocks the next week
The curator signs against the three criteria written here, not against preference.
Ranking and the 10 internships
- Deliverables, 40 per cent
- Pipeline activity, 30 per cent
- Evidence quality, 15 per cent
- Demo Day, 15 per cent
10 places for 25 students. Eligibility is a standard, not a contest: clear the pass conditions and the companies choose from that pool at Demo Day.
Curators
- One group, Week 1 to Week 6. In the room on Saturdays, and running the Monday call online
- Run the session, sign off the deliverable, keep the group on track for Demo Day
- They do not build it for the group
Stefano Ferrara and Nils Johannsen confirmed. Two more needed.
Mentors
- One Saturday each, facilitating the full two hours to all 25
- They need the topic, the date and a one page brief
- Stefano is Mondays only and does no Saturdays
Week 1 Florian, Week 2 Radhika, Week 3 Nils, Week 4 Nagaraj, Week 5 James. Week 1 and Week 3 still to confirm.
The Young CEO by Klaster / Cohort 01 / 29 Aug to 5 Oct 2026