Rise Asset Development: EnterpRISEing Youth Small Business Training

Case Study

Building a gamified, mobile-first eLearning course and custom LMS to scale a small business program for young entrepreneurs facing mental health or addiction barriers.

Rise Asset Development, with strategic support from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), provides low-interest small business loans, training, and mentorship to entrepreneurs navigating histories of mental health or addiction challenges. A primary pillar of their work is building inclusive pathways to financial self-sufficiency.

Training Goals

Target Learning Audience: Aspiring young entrepreneurs aged 16 to 29 across Canada who self-identify as navigating mental health or substance use challenges.

Scope: A complete digital conversion of an intensive, face-to-face business development program, optimized for asynchronous, nationwide deployment.

Equity of Access: Ensuring high-quality learning outcomes for youth who lack consistent high-speed internet access or private home computers through mobile optimization and offline capabilities.

Project Snapshot

Client: Rise Asset Development

Scope: Comprehensive Youth Small Business eLearning Program

Format: Responsive, Gamified Mobile eLearning with Offline Capabilities

Tools: Articulate 360, LearnDash LMS, Custom Character Animation, Interactive Form APIs

The PathWise Process: Our Instructional Design Approach

PathWise Solutions deployed an agile development strategy to translate real-world incubator mechanics into an encouraging, highly structured virtual environment.

Step 1: Strategic Analysis & Alignment

Our discovery phase balanced the rigorous requirements of university-backed business training with the unique motivational needs of a young, resilient audience. We mapped out an overarching thematic framework—framing the path of entrepreneurship as an engaging outdoor “trek”—to establish an inviting, structured, and cohesive visual journey.

This structural pacing respects the emotional energy of the learners, helping them navigate dense business concepts like cash-flow modeling and market analysis without feeling overwhelmed.

Step 2: Creative Design & Development

Our development team built the course layout around a series of animated, character-driven stories following two young friends and their two business mentors. To ensure absolute equity, we directed professional narration and embedded full closed captioning alongside alternative screen-reader activities, custom financial tracking graphics, and accessible icons that perfectly match the core Rise brand standards.

By embedding authentic scenario conflicts—such as managing startup anxiety or pitching to a client—we successfully built a safe environment for behavioral modeling.

Step 3: Interactive Implementation

We engineered an immersive toolkit that completely replaces dry learning prompts with hands-on professional planning activities.

Active Collaboration: We built dynamic interactive assets like an on-screen “My Notebook” feature for private self-reflection and a simulation challenge paired with automated fillable forms. On the technical side, PathWise custom-coded a robust LearnDash LMS featuring self-registration, customized reward badges, and a “My Backpack” resource module that securely holds a student’s completed business templates for offline use. We paired this setup with a granular reporting environment giving administrators tiered permission gates to monitor user completion metrics.

enterpRise module interface with characters

Project Outcomes

Transforming vocational support into a highly interactive, accessible digital pipeline for underrepresented business owners.

Adapted an intensive face-to-face incubator program into an interactive, media-rich digital training resource that integrates cleanly into the client’s public website.

Lowered socioeconomic technological barriers by launching a responsive, mobile-first architecture featuring downloadable tools optimized for low-connectivity environments.

Empowered youth with actionable, self-directed business planning mechanisms that honor their individual paths while actively fostering independent financial growth.