School of Business and Entrepreneurship
(SOBE) Cohort
The SOBE provides the most comprehensive and flexible Business As Mission Training available in YWAM’s University of the Nations.
The SOBE (COHORT)
The SOBE is a 12-week YWAM school with in-depth training that shifts students understanding of business, while providing a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals needed for a successful Business as Mission venture. The school can be taken online or in a classroom cohort, with the core instruction taking place through over 525 short videos divided into almost as many learning segments. Students are presented with regular questions and exercises that promote learning and application to each concept taught. Live staff one-on-ones, coaching sessions and weekly school processing times supplement the instruction. Pre-recording the curriculum and delivering it online results in every student, regardless of location and financial resources, receiving the same quality instructions.
The Lecture Phase
We also offer an online option to our 12-week SOBE Cohort. This online school option is accessible via YWAM Colorado Springs BAM Programme. Click here for more info.
Students will be based at our YWAM campus in Nelson, New Zealand.
This will process together in depth what they are learning. Many of these class times will be facilitated by a SOBE staff person. Several of the 12 weeks of instruction will also be facilitated by the speaker teaching in the online videos. The Cohort students will also interact with online students. This means participating on Friday live zoom events with all the students around the globe and with that week’s instructors.
COURSE CONTENT:
Marketing
Servant Sales
Operations and Fulfillment
Product Development (Disciplined Entrepreneur)
Brand Management
Lean Startup/Model Canvas
Human Resource Management
Business Finance
Introduction to Business as Mission
The Biblical Purpose and Values of Business
Integrating the Business and the Mission
Apostolic Entrepreneurship
Weekly Business as Missions Case Studies
SOBE COHORT
DATES
30 March to 19 June 2026, Students arrive on 29 March. (Course Enrollment deadline is 8 March)
COST
NZ$5,950 (Includes campus food and housing)
PREREQUISITES
A DTS is recommended, but NOT required for the cohort at YWAM Nelson.
Frequently Ask Questions
Read our SOBE Cohort Student Guide.
Course Dates :
30 March to 19 June 2026
HOW DOES THE Cohort WORK?
Our SOBE staff team, along with our course instructors, worked for more than a full year to provide the highest quality learning experience. There are now over 525 pre-recorded short-format videos. These videos, along with reading materials, activities and responses from the student, are organized into lessons of approximately 3-5 hours, with many stopping points along the way. This course structure allows the students to digest the material in shorter pieces and allows the school staff to monitor how well each student is grasping and applying the material.
In the Cohort option, a group of students are taking the course together in a classroom on our YWAM campus in Nelson, New Zealand. The class still uses the same identical curriculum as the online school, but they are doing it together with SOBE staff, or even the speaker on the videos facilitating. The classroom offers real-time interaction and processing of the material. If you are not be a strong learner working on your own, you are able to leave the location where you are living for three months, and you want the interaction and camaraderie of a classroom setting, the Cohort is perfect for you!
Being part of the global school that has online students, as well as even other cohorts in other nations and in other languages, means you get an even broader perspective and chance for interaction. Every Friday, the whole global school gathers over zoom for two hours to process that weeks teaching.
How is the language TRANSLATION done?
All of the written pieces of the curriculum has been translated first with AI and then checked by a human translator. This includes all online instruction in Moodle (the learning management system we use) and all written articles. For the videos, they are all re-mixed with the speakers slides translated into the target language. We then use AI to translate the audio track with a human translator checking the translation. Once this is done, we used AI to clone the speakers voice (Yes, it still sounds like the speaker!) and generate the new audio track of them speaking in the target language (i.e. Spanish, Portuguese). When there is no speaker slide, the video is re-created with the mouth movements being re-created so the lips sync with the new language. It is super cool!