__You have the wings, but taking flight is up to you!

On this platform, I train entrepreneurs. That is my objective. I’m not looking to engage customers of my businesses or to sell you something. I also don’t do “social” media, which is to comment or seek a comment.

I want to teach something that can make you a successful entrepreneur.

Like any good mentor, I look for comments that show that my mentee has grasped something they can run with and use to change the world. Some of you really make me proud with the astute insights you share here. I don't comment back very often right now, but I am reading!

Now take the Ecofarmer AI example that I recently shared here: Do you know that this is the type of business which could one day become a unicorn? If this were the only business I was working on over the next 12 months, I would turn it into a billion-dollar business.

I’m just hoping that my people will pick it up and run with it, as I just have too much on my plate, and it’s not all about making money.

But what does it mean for you?

First of all, let’s start with the business you are actually in. How do we “AI-it”?

We can, you know!

That is my challenge for you this Christmas and New Year. I want you to AI the business you are in.

To do that, some of you will need to #SkillUp. In fact, we all do.

Here's the promised list of beginner AI courses my team put together to help you get started. It is your responsibility to do your own research on such things, but I know the choice can be overwhelming with so many courses popping up right now.

These (mostly) beginner courses are either free or mostly free.

You'll see that many of the big global tech companies have now created their own "Learning Academies" which teach AI skills ranging from #JuniorClass courses to ones that are very very advanced. Many if not most courses are free, with the catalogs constantly being updated.

While I'm not endorsing any particular course, below are amongst the most popular and well-respected according to my staff's research. Please share others that you know about and give us feedback on these as you finish them.

#1. “Elements of AI”University of Helsinki https://www.elementsofai.com/

#2. “AI for Everyone” - Andrew Ng/DeepLearning. AI with Coursera https://www.deeplearning.ai/
Start with: https://www.coursera.org/learn/ai-for-everyone

#3. “Google AI Essentials” Grow with Google https://grow.google/ai/
Start with: https://www.coursera.org/google.../ai-essentials-google
Another Google AI skills portal: https://ai.google/learn-ai-skills/

#4. “AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations” Anthropic Academy https://www.anthropic.com/learn
Another Anthropic AI skills portal: https://anthropic.skilljar.com/
Start with: https://anthropic.skilljar.com/ai-fluency-framework...

#5. “AI Learning Essentials” NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute (DLI)https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/training/
Get started with: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/learn/ai-learning-essentials/
Other self-paced courses: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/training/self-paced-courses/
Another NVIDIA AI skills portal: https://learn.nvidia.com/

#6. “Introduction to AI Concepts” MicrosoftAI Skills Navigator: https://aiskillsnavigator.microsoft.com/
Start here: https://aiskillsnavigator.microsoft.com/.../module...
Another Microsoft AI skills portal: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/

#7. “Small Business Jam Skills Lab” OpenAI Academy One-hour live event (15 January 2026): https://academy.openai.com/.../small-business-jam-online...https://academy.openai.com/

You can also check out Accenture, AWS, Cisco, IBM, and Oracle. They also have learning academies and #SkillsTraining programs.

Now FREE online courses will get you started and provide you access to cutting-edge #Knowledge and #Skills (and sometimes certificates). However, if you are #Serious, you will also very likely need to #Invest money in #SkillingUp for your #AIFuture.

Below is a selected list of world-class #HigherLearning institutions that offer AI and AI-in-business courses.

With these programmes, you'll likely get to "meet" the professors and students, whether online or in person. The interactive discussions you have will grow not only your mind but your AI #Networks. You could even meet a future business partner.

#1. California Institute of Technology (CalTech)
https://ctme.caltech.edu/ai-machine-learning-certificate... A few free courses.

#2. Carnegie Mellon University Africa (based in Rwanda)
https://www.africa.engineering.cmu.edu/.../course-catalog... Listing of degree courses may be of interest.

#3. Harvard University
https://pll.harvard.edu/subject/artificial-intelligence A few Free courses.

#4. INSEAD (France)
https://www.insead.edu/.../open.../transform-business-ai Paid courses.

#5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
https://openlearning.mit.edu/.../launch-your-ai-career... Amazing list of free and paid courses. Check out free courses on YouTube, too, including this Spring 2025 12-lecture course: "How to AI (Almost) Anything": https://www.youtube.com/playlist...

#6. Stanford University
https://online.stanford.edu/explore... A few free courses. On YouTube, you can find many free AI Stanford course lectures: https://www.youtube.com/stanfordonline

#7. Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
https://coding-bootcamps.sun.ac.za/immersive-ai-engineering/ An AI bootcamp in South Africa.

#8. University of Oxford
https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/.../executi.../oxford-ai-programmes Most courses are paid.
Here's one beginner Coursera option that may be free: https://www.coursera.org/learn/oxford-ai-essentials...

#9. Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
https://executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu/.../ai-for.../ All courses are paid.

If we've left off an excellent course, university, or other AI learning programme that you think should be mentioned here, go ahead and let me and the platform here know... But remember these are just a few slivers of the information out there.

Time for you to fly!

Happy New Year.