It’s not only students going back to school in Lancashire, this month our Enterprise4All advisors and some willing business owners went back into school to help bring the real world of business into the classroom of business studies students at Pendle Vale College.
On the 16th and 19th of September Enterprise4All advisors Yusuf and Elle, along with local business owners went into the college to talk all things business with the current years business studies students.
The sessions included vital points within any business including:
• Understanding costs, pricing and market competition
• Understanding your target market
• Communicating with customers
• Risks and contingency plans- what if things need to change and how
The students had the task of setting up their own mini enterprises as part of their coursework. So, having the opportunity to talk to business owners who have done this for real was an advantage.
16 September
Enterprise4All business advisor Yusuf Musa attended the first session along with Zainab Jogee of Z’s Defence Academy. During this session the students saw a detailed presentation focusing on business start-ups. Zainab facilitated a discussion with the students and answered questions about running her own business and her journey so far.
19th September
The second session saw Enterprise4All business advisor Elle Flores alongside Hawa from foundations by Hawa work together to create an information packed session. This selection of students saw an informed presentation on the best ways to start a new business. Hawa discussed what it was like to start her business and answered questions about the challenges in her journey so far.
We understand that it’s easy to teach people things, but they never learn until they put them into practise. The aim of these sessions is to give business studies students a sense of what business is like in the real world. Bringing real people from local businesses helps the students to put everything they learn in the classroom into perspective. It also helps them to apply the things they’ve learned in real life situations, so they have a better understanding of the processes and challenges.
The feedback from the students was rewarding. After the second session with Hawa one student wrote to her to say
‘Hey just wanted to say thank you for giving us an amazing talk today it really meant a lot to us. Your story was inspiring to be honest and I know it’s going to help many of us with our work. You and the other ladies were brilliant. Another thing I wanted to say was thank you at the end you walked past me and said “you’re going to be a great graphic designer” that really meant a lot to me because I literally have a low self-esteem so once again thank you’
No matter how long you’ve been in business sometimes it may feel as though you’re taking 1 step forward and 2 steps back, but remember you could be someone’s inspiration!
