Raising Entrepreneurs

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The business brains of the future went head-to-head to develop a fictional strategy for the British Commercial Vehicle Museum.

As part of UK Enterprise week, six teams of year 10 and 11 pupils from schools across the borough pitted their wits against each other to devise ideas for the future of the Leyland attraction.

Now in its fourth year the ‘Schools Enterprise Challenge’, organised by the Business Venture Group in partnership with South Ribble Borough Council, provides young people with the opportunity to experience the world of business and the many different considerations involved.

Each team was set a task to devise a business plan as part of which they were required to consider finance, staffing, marketing, planning, the law, competition and profitability.

Any viable ideas that the teams generated could one day be implemented at the British Commercial Museum, with the pupils themselves involved in the planning process.

Experts from South Ribble Borough Council, Business Venture Group, Sharp Marketing, the British Commercial Vehicle Museum, Barclays Bank and Clever Cloggs bookkeeping training were on hand to provide advice and support to each team.

Once each team had decided upon a strategy they had to prepare a business plan and then pitch their ideas to the panel of experts in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ type scenario.

The experts then had to decide whether they were ‘in’ or ‘out’ in terms of supporting the proposed business strategy.

The overall winners were ‘Then and Now’ from Walton-le-Dale Arts College and High School who impressed the panel with their presentation skills and innovative ideas.

Ideas suggested on the day included creating a mural on the wall adjacent to King Street, introducing interactive electronic displays of working engines and having a driving simulator which would give visitors to the museum the chance to experience what it is like to drive a vehicle from the past.

Read the full story in The Leyland Guardian.

Technology has helped breed this new generation of givers and social entrepreneurs. The Web facilitates global communication and network-building as well as ease in donating.

Talia Leman, an Iowa teen, got her feet wet in philanthropy after Hurricane Katrina. At age 10, she started a project called TLC – trick or treat for the levee catastrophe. She wrote a news release on lined paper and sent it to TV stations, urging kids to ask for loose change on Halloween as well as candy. With the help of an adult friend who set up a website, she connected with children in 4,000 school districts across the United States. They raised $10 million, what ABC News said was equal to the giving power of the top five US corporations.

That experience led Talia to create RandomKid, which supports children in the US and elsewhere in carrying out their own project ideas. “When I speak at schools, kids often come up and say, ‘I have this great idea. How can I make it happen?’ ” says Talia, the nonprofit’s CEO. RandomKid has worked with children in 50 states and 20 countries.

Last month, they held an Internet video conference involving schools in five states with the South African entrepreneur who developed the “playpump” system to provide safe water to rural communities. The students had raised enough funds for their second pump. Hearing that, “entrepreneur Trevor Field said he knew of a community in Malawi that desperately needed one, and he’d get moving on it right away,” says Anne Ginther, RandomKid’s president.

On Nov. 13, Talia was recognized for her efforts with an award from World of Children (WOC), which sponsors what some call the Nobel prize for children.

“Talia is being recognized as a changemaker because she has put together a new cohort of philanthropists – some 600 kids across the US and the world,” says Harry Leibowitz, WOC founder. “What she’s doing has sustainability.”

Source: CS Monitor

Students at Decorah Middle School in Iowa are learning to create, market and manage their own business as part of the Youth Marketplace program, a learning unit designed to help turn middle school students in entrepreneurs.

This year, the students have teamed up to launch six new businesses that will sell everything from Christmas items to blankets.

In the program, students have learned about business development by listening to entrepreneurial leaders in the community and through practical experience launching their own companies. They have written a business plan describing their business, developed their own unique products, and have been responsible for handling money and recordkeeping.

Randy Iverson, a 7th grade teacher at Decorah Middle School, said, “I’m excited that the students have had the opportunity to learn and apply skills to real-life situations.”

Source: Decorah Newspapers

It may not seem like the best time to start your own business, but even a financial crisis isn’t standing in the way of one group of entrepreneurs.

Three teams of New York State high school students, coming from Watertown, Carthage and Copenhagen, showed off their business plans at Jefferson Community College Friday.

The teams are the finalists in a business concepts competition.

Students say they haven’t been deterred by what they’ve heard about the economy.

They say the timing for starting a small business could be just right for them.

“When people such as myself are coming out of college, the job market is going to be a lot greater because the economy is going to be a lot stronger,” said WHS senior Alicia Uhlein.

The winning team was awarded $1,000, with second place earning $500 and third place receiving $250.

The winners:

1st place: Watertown High School with a presentation for a party favor business

2nd place: Carthage High School with a presentation for a computer design business

3rd place: Copenhagen High School with a presentation for a computer repair business

Source: Fox News