Students Get a Taste for Business
Students at Aylesbury College took part in a pioneering education programme on Monday (18 November, 2013), which provides a unique real-life business start-up opportunity so they can safely ‘earn while they learn’.
The Business in a Box Roadshow is one of thousands of events taking place throughout the UK during the annual Global Entrepreneurship Week (18 to 24 November, 2013), which seeks to encourage people in 130 countries to be more entrepreneurial.
The GEW UK theme for this year is “Take a step forward,” which was the inspiration behind the idea to take a real-life business challenge on the road and reach out to students to support the development of workplace and enterprise skills.
The Business in a Box Roadshow is taking different business challenges to one college each day of Global Entrepreneurship Week, kicking off at Aylesbury College Monday (18 November) before heading to: South Coast College, Hastings (19 November); Chichester College (20 November); City College Norwich (21 November); and City College Plymouth (22 November).
At Aylesbury, students received a business masterclass from young entrepreneur George Hudson (27), who is a former member of the Global Scholars Programme of Entrepreneurship, a year-long intensive business experience activity hosted by the Kauffman Foundation in the US, who co-founded Global Entrepreneurship Week in conjunction with the UK Government six years ago.
Following the masterclass, and a question and answer session, students were then provided with information about the mobile phone industry and various products, before pitching in teams to run a real-life college business for the remainder of this academic year.
Fiona Morey, Vice Principal for Learning and Quality at Aylesbury College, said: “Aylesbury College is committed to supporting local young people develop their entrepreneurial and team working skills to prepare them for employment or to inspire them to set up on their own. This event has not only provided students with an opportunity to test these skills but also gave insight about a major global industry sector and a chance to meet and learn from experts from major companies and brands.”
The Roadshow is one of a number of enterprise projects and challenges that aim to provide students with ‘earn while you learn’ business activities, created and delivered in partnership with colleges by the Business in a Box Education Programme.
Eric Woollard-White, who helped to create the programme, explained: “Business in a Box provides brands and companies with practical ways to engage with students through real-life commercial activities in a well managed, non-exploitative and supported way, so they provide the best possible learning experiences.”
For colleges and schools, Business in a Box aims to provide a gateway to the vital business engagement that is now increasingly becoming a key part of curriculum time and coursework. More challenges are to be delivered at other educational locations over the coming months, while several colleges are also planning to establish permanent, student-run community recycling centres as part of the programme.