Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneurship

Make decisions with an entrepreneur dare. A mindset described often as grit not only for academic excellence but to kick-off a business that closes a gap in society. Ranging from push cart sales, technopreneur competitions, school festival, community carnivals, Acorn is ready to partner from conceptualising, training, planning to execution.

Design Thinking

Think like a designer to make a difference. Design Thinking framework provides a people-centered approach to problem solving. With an array of design thinking tools for all ages, participants can apply research, prototyping, and evaluating skills in school, community, nation and global context.

Servant Leadership

Serve to lead; lead to serve. Experiential activities designed to create empathy and facilitate deeper understanding of the social issues among participants. Tap on the wide spectrum of partners to execute your choice local or overseas service learning project.

Social Entrepreneurship

We believe that entrepreneurship is not just about creating profitable businesses—it’s about identifying real problems in society and developing sustainable solutions. Our Social Entrepreneurship programs empower students to think beyond traditional business models and consider the social impact of their ventures.

Through hands-on projects, mentorship, and access to entrepreneurial networks, participants learn to validate ideas, develop business plans, and navigate the challenges of bringing products and services to market. Whether it’s a school-based micro-enterprise or a community-level initiative, we provide the framework, knowledge, and support needed to turn entrepreneurial vision into reality.

Understanding Social Enterprises

A social enterprise combines the heart of a servant with the brain of a businessman. We teach students to understand the key difference between a traditional business and a social enterprise—one focuses primarily on profit, while the other balances profit with purpose and social impact.

Different Models of Social Enterprise:

Direct Impact Through Employment – Creating job opportunities for disadvantaged communities and building skills
Direct Impact Through Provision of Goods and Services – Offering affordable, quality products or services to underserved populations
Indirect Impact Through Funding – Generating revenue to support other social programs and causes

The 5P Framework for Non-Profit Business Planning

Our proven framework helps students design comprehensive social enterprise business plans:

PURPOSE – Define your social mission and select beneficiaries. Decide your mode of impact—will you create employment, provide essential goods and services, or generate funding for broader causes?

PRODUCT – Understand the difference between goods and services. Connect your offerings directly to the needs of your beneficiaries and identify your unique selling point that sets your social enterprise apart.

PROMOTION – Create a compelling marketing pitch for your social cause using our proven 4C framework: Context (provide facts and figures about the problem), Challenge (tell stories that resonate emotionally), Conquest (paint a vision of positive change), and Call to Action (provide specific ways people can support your cause).

PRICING – Master both cost-based and value-based pricing strategies. Learn psychological pricing, bundle pricing, and time-based pricing to ensure your enterprise remains sustainable.

PLACING – Decide whether your distribution strategy involves physical locations (brick and mortar) or digital platforms (e-commerce) to reach your target beneficiaries effectively.

Our programs have supported students in launching successful ventures that address environmental sustainability, food security, waste management, and community welfare. We equip young entrepreneurs with essential skills including market research, financial literacy, marketing strategies, and impact measurement.

Experiential Learning

Our flagship activity is conducted in a “reality TV” show style where students form teams to plan a social enterprise idea and pitch it to judges. Within an hour, teams prepare and present an idea for setting up a social enterprise for a worthy cause. The judges provide feedback and decide how much “investment money” to allocate to each team, creating authentic entrepreneurial pressure and excitement.

Design Thinking

Design Thinking in Action

At Acorn Training, one of our greatest satisfaction is hearing students say “I never knew I could be creative!” Our Design Thinking Courses for primary and secondary school students in Singapore are designed to build creative confidence, cultivate innovative thinking, and elevate collaborative skills.

What is Design Thinking?

Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that fosters empathy, ideation, and problem-solving. By guiding students through a structured process, they learn to tackle challenges creatively and effectively. Our courses follow the five-stage Design Thinking Framework:

Empathize – Understand user needs through research and observation. We teach students to conduct interviews, observe behaviors, and develop deep empathy for the people they’re designing for.
Define – Clearly articulate the problem to be solved. Rather than jumping to solutions, students learn to frame problems precisely based on their research findings.
Ideate – Generate creative solutions through brainstorming techniques. We use proven ideation methods to help students think beyond obvious solutions and explore diverse possibilities.
Prototype – Create tangible models to test ideas. Students build prototypes ranging from simple paper mockups to digital simulations and physical models, learning from rapid iteration.
Test – Gather feedback and refine solutions for real-world application. Students present prototypes to users, collect feedback, and iterate based on real-world insights.

5 Practices of Design Thinking

Why Choose Our Design Thinking Courses?

Variety of Design Thinking Tools – We have curated many different tools for different age groups starting from lower primary to junior college and polytechnic students. Each toolkit is age-appropriate and scaffolded to build skills progressively.
Highly Engaging Activities – We make design thinking a fun and interactive learning process. Through games, challenges, and real-world projects, students remain engaged and motivated throughout their learning journey.
Future-Ready Skills – We incorporate tech skills in the prototyping process such as 3D modelling, coding, use of A.I. and hence complements STEM education. Students learn to leverage technology as a tool for bringing ideas to life.
Aligned with 21st Century Competencies – We train students to collaborate through group thinking strategies and communicate persuasively with elevator pitching. These skills prepare them for success in any field.
Different Scopes to Apply Design Thinking – We have worked with many schools to apply Design Thinking in areas such as sustainability, smart homes, needs of elderly, needs of people with disabilities, school and community improvement.
Experienced Trainers – Our expert facilitators bring passion, expertise, and real-world experience to every session. They create safe spaces for experimentation and learning.

Experienced Trainers

Course Offerings

Design Thinking for VIA (Values in Action) Projects – Integrate design thinking into community service initiatives
Design Thinking for Innovation – Foster creative problem-solving across subjects and disciplines
Design Thinking for Entrepreneurship – Apply design methodology to develop viable business solutions

Servant Leadership

Serve to lead; lead to serve. Experiential activities designed to create empathy and facilitate deeper understanding of the social issues among participants. Tap on the wide spectrum of partners to execute your choice local or overseas service learning project.

Servant Leadership

Understanding Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership, a concept pioneered by Robert Greenleaf, is a philosophy that fundamentally challenges traditional notions of leadership. Rather than leaders using their position for personal gain or power, servant leaders prioritize the needs of those they serve. The servant leader asks: “How can I help others succeed?” instead of “How can I maintain power?” This paradigm shift transforms organizations and communities by fostering trust, commitment, and genuine development in people.

Core Principles of Servant Leadership

Greenleaf identified ten key characteristics of servant leaders: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth, and building community. Our programs develop these essential qualities through structured experiences and reflection.

Listening and Empathy – Servant leaders begin by truly listening to understand the needs, concerns, and aspirations of others. Through deep listening and empathetic engagement, students learn to see situations from multiple perspectives and recognize the dignity in every person.

Stewardship and Responsibility – Servant leaders understand they hold their position as a trust, not a right. They take responsibility for the well-being and development of those they lead, viewing themselves as stewards accountable to a higher purpose and to the communities they serve.

Commitment to Others’ Growth – A servant leader is genuinely committed to the personal, professional, and spiritual growth of those around them. This goes beyond task completion to investing in people’s development and potential.

Community Building – Servant leaders work to create environments where people feel valued, connected, and part of something larger than themselves. They understand that healthy communities thrive on shared values, mutual respect, and collaborative action.

Our Servant Leadership programs are designed to help students develop these attitudes, behaviors, and skills necessary to become compassionate leaders who create positive social change. Through meaningful service experiences, structured reflection, and mentoring, participants learn to understand different perspectives, build genuine relationships, and address root causes of social challenges.

We work with schools and organizations to design service learning projects that are substantive, reciprocal, and transformative. Whether addressing poverty, environmental degradation, educational gaps, or health challenges, our programs ensure that service is not just about helping others—it’s about mutual learning and sustainable impact.

Our partnerships span across Singapore and internationally, providing students with opportunities to engage in local community projects as well as immersive overseas experiences. Each project is carefully structured to maximize learning, ensure cultural sensitivity, and create measurable positive outcomes for the communities served.

Key Components of Our Servant Leadership Programs:

Pre-service orientation and cultural competency training
Immersive service experiences in partner communities
Structured reflection and debrief sessions grounded in Greenleaf’s principles
Mentoring from experienced leaders and community partners
Ongoing engagement and sustainability planning rooted in stewardship

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