Street Business School

What Street Business School does

Street Business School (SBS) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that delivers an 8-module entrepreneurship training curriculum to women living in poverty, with the functional goal of generating sustained income growth at the household level. The program originated as an initiative within BeadforLife and was spun off as an independent nonprofit in 2018; it is headquartered in Niwot/Boulder, Colorado, and operates a Learning Lab in Kampala, Uganda. SBS reports reaching more than 100,000 participants through a network of 320+ partner NGOs across 39 countries, with an externally validated average income increase of 211% at a stated program cost of approximately $346 per participant.

The core product is the SBS Entrepreneurship Training Program, supported by Immersion (train-the-trainer) Workshops, Virtual Workshops delivered via telephone conferencing, Custom Partnerships, and the Get Back on Your Feet crisis-recovery module introduced during COVID-19. The underlying delivery model is a social franchise: SBS certifies partner NGOs and community-based trainers to administer the curriculum, supplemented by direct delivery through the Kampala Learning Lab. Technology footprint is intentionally low — primarily SMS and voice-based remote delivery — and the organization maintains a multi-year monitoring and evaluation dataset that has been validated via randomized controlled trial.

Revenue mechanics are those of a donation- and grant-funded nonprofit rather than a commercial enterprise: programs are provided at no cost to end beneficiaries, while funding is sourced from individual donors, foundation grants (the Swarovski Foundation is named), and corporate partnerships. The organization has set a public goal of reaching 1 million women and 5 million children by 2027 and has entered flagship delivery partnerships with BRAC (2021) and ChildFund (2026). In February 2026, Evan Cauble-Johnson succeeded Devin Hibbard as CEO, marking a leadership transition during a period of targeted scale-up.

Name

Street Business School

Legal name

Street Business School

Website

https://streetbusinessschool.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Street Business School is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that delivers an 8-module entrepreneurship training curriculum and train-the-trainer social franchise to women living in poverty across 39 countries, primarily through 320+ partner NGOs and a Kampala Learning Lab.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Microenterprise Training and International Development Education

NAICS

Business Schools and Computer and Management Training (6114), Business and Secretarial Schools (61141)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Entrepreneurship Foundations & Startup Basics (EDAMAHAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Small Business & Entrepreneurship Community Education (EDAAAFAK), Entrepreneurship & Small Business Workforce Programs (EDAAAOAM), Marketing, Branding & Sales Skills (EDAMAHAG)

Keywords

• Entrepreneurship training
• Microenterprise education
• Women's empowerment
• Social franchise
• Poverty alleviation

Headquarters

HQ city

Niwot

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Street Business School relies primarily on donations from individuals who support the mission to end global poverty through women's entrepreneurship. Donors can give through the organization's website donation portal.
2. Foundation and Corporate Grants: The organization receives funding from foundations such as the Swarovski Foundation to support program expansion and partner training.
3. Partnership Fees: Organizations pay to become certified SBS training partners and receive curriculum access, coaching, and support.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Street Business School delivers a proprietary 8-module entrepreneurship training curriculum to women living in extreme poverty. Training is delivered directly through a Learning Lab in Kampala, Uganda, and via certified partner NGOs worldwide under a social franchise model. The curriculum teaches business skills including finding capital, starting small, bookkeeping, market research, customer care, and business growth strategies.

Product overview

Street Business School is a nonprofit organization offering a portfolio of entrepreneurship training products and services designed to lift women out of poverty through microbusiness creation. The core offering is the Street Business School Entrepreneurship Training Program, a proven curriculum that has been delivered to over 100,000 people globally. This is supported by Immersion Workshops for trainer certification and Virtual Workshops for remote delivery. The Custom Partnerships program enables organizations to integrate SBS into their existing operations through a social franchise model. Additional offerings include the Get Back on Your Feet Module for post-crisis business recovery.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Street Business School Entrepreneurship Training Program The primary entrepreneurship education curriculum that teaches women living in poverty business skills including market research, bookkeeping, capital generation, and business management to help them launch and grow sustainable microbusinesses. Delivered to over 100,000 people globally through a social franchise model.
• Immersion Workshops In-person intensive training workshops where community-based trainers and partner organization representatives are certified to deliver the SBS curriculum to women in their local communities. Conducted in Kampala, Uganda over multiple days of immersive instruction.
• Virtual Workshops Remote training delivery through telephone conferencing, featuring a 10-week program with key elements from the SBS curriculum delivered via conference calls and individual coaching sessions. Designed for accessibility in lockdown situations or areas without internet access.
• Custom Partnerships Tailored partnerships with NGOs, funders, and organizations to integrate SBS training into existing programs, providing curriculum, tools, and coaching support.
• Get Back on Your Feet Module A post-COVID business recovery course designed to help SBS alumni and NGO partners rebuild their businesses after economic disruption, delivered via SMS text messaging.

Quantifiable outcome

• 111% average increase in income at graduation
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, major, minor and core.

• ChildFundflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Street Business School and ChildFund are working together to improve livelihoods of people in poverty in Uganda. The partnership has been years in the making, with ChildFund focusing on increasing economic opportunities as part of their Uganda strategy.
• Empower & ShinemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Empower & Shine partnered with SBS to launch the Ayimalu Project in Mubaku Village, Uganda. The project trains 400 women in entrepreneurship through locally registered NGOs. SBS provides curriculum, certification training, impact data collection, and coaching support. The project aims to double incomes of at least 320 women.
• EASEUgandaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Co-founded by former BeadforLife staffer Irene Namaganda, EASEUganda works with SBS graduates on climate-related initiatives including biochar production, organic fertilizer, and cooking briquettes. EASE engages 50 women to collect biowaste for processing into environmentally sustainable products.
• BRACflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021BRAC, the largest NGO in the world, contracted Street Business School to contribute to their Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents (ELA) curriculum. SBS's entrepreneurship curriculum, proven to triple daily income of families living in poverty, is being integrated into BRAC's programs.
• BeadforLifecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2004BeadforLife is the sister organization from which Street Business School spun off in 2018. Founded in 2004 by three American women who met a Ugandan woman making paper bead jewelry, BeadforLife originally focused on fair trade paper bead jewelry and transitioned to include business training. After 17 years, BeadforLife sunsetted its retail operations while continuing as a sister organization. Without BeadforLife, there would be no Street Business School. Combined, BFL and SBS have helped more than 92,186 people improve their lives.
• NGO Partner Organizations (320+)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThe Street Business School network includes over 320 partner organizations operating in 39 countries. These grassroots NGOs pay for certification and receive the SBS curriculum, tools, coaching, and support to deliver entrepreneurship training to women in their communities. Partners range from small local organizations to international NGOs.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• BRAC: BRAC is the world's largest development NGO and an active SBS partner integrating its curriculum into the ELA program. Operates economic-empowerment programs at vastly greater scale and across many verticals, making it a flagship customer/incumbent rather than a direct competitor.
• CARE International: CARE runs large-scale women's economic empowerment programs globally, including Village Savings and Loan Associations that overlap with SBS's entrepreneurship curriculum. Vastly larger, multi-vertical incumbent with similar end beneficiaries.
• TechnoServe: TechnoServe works with entrepreneurs in developing countries to build competitive farms and businesses, with significant overlap in entrepreneurship-training methodology and target geographies. Larger, more established, and broader in scope than SBS.
• Grameen Foundation: Grameen Foundation delivers financial inclusion and livelihood programs for the poor globally, including microenterprise training that overlaps directly with SBS's curriculum. Far larger and more diversified; comparable on mission and end beneficiary.
• Opportunity International: Opportunity International combines microfinance with financial and business training for women entrepreneurs in developing markets. Comparable mission and beneficiary base, larger institutional footprint and broader financial product set.

Emerging players

• Heifer International: Heifer International combines livelihoods training with asset transfers (livestock) for women in poverty, sharing SBS's target segment and graduation-from-poverty framework. Differs in primary delivery mechanism (asset transfer vs. entrepreneurship curriculum).
• Women's World Banking: Women's World Banking focuses on financial inclusion and economic empowerment of low-income women through partner financial institutions. Shares target demographic and economic-empowerment thesis with SBS but operates via financial-institution partnerships rather than direct training.
• Kiva: Kiva provides crowdfunded microloans to underserved entrepreneurs worldwide, frequently in partnership with local NGOs that also deliver training. Closely related as an enabling capital + training stack for the same microbusiness segment SBS targets.

Others

• Acumen: Acumen is a global impact investor and poverty-focused capacity builder that funds and supports early-stage social enterprises serving low-income customers. Adjacent ecosystem participant — represents the kind of outcome-oriented funder SBS's data positioning targets.

Direct peers

• Trickle Up: Trickle Up runs a near-identical "poverty graduation" model that pairs livelihoods training with seed capital for women in extreme poverty across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Most direct functional peer to SBS in target population, curriculum design, and RCT-backed outcomes reporting.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/streetbusinessschool

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Street Business School