Young Enterprise

Young Enterprise is an international educational charity that offers 6 programmes for varying age groups, from primary school pupils to university graduates. The organization exists, in some form or another, in over 100 countries, and in the UK alone, more than 3000 schools and colleges have a scheme running. I was involved in YE as a shareholder from age 11, and as an achiever (their term for the students running the companies so ...
...in “…Director” feel special) in Lower 6, so this is the area about which I’ll be talking.

The YE motto is “Learning by doing”. Pretty explanatory really - you can have all the book knowledge in the world, but you might still need a hand when it comes to living and surviving in the real world. YE gives pupils (usually in 6th form, though they can be aged 15-19) the opportunity to set up and run their ... more

Young Enterprise is an international educational charity that offers 6 programmes for varying age groups, from primary school pupils to university graduates. The organization exists, in some form or another, in over 100 countries, and in the UK alone, more than 3000 schools and colleges have a scheme running. I was involved in YE as a shareholder from age 11, and as an achiever (their term for the students running the companies so that even those who don’t have a position that ends in “…Director” feel special) in Lower 6, so this is the area about which I’ll be talking.

The YE motto is “Learning by doing”. Pretty explanatory really - you can have all the book knowledge in the world, but you might still need a hand when it comes to living and surviving in the real world. YE gives pupils (usually in 6th form, though they can be aged 15-19) the opportunity to set up and run their own business for 8 to 9 months or so. They offer support and guidance, plus the expertise needed to get you off the ground in the first place, but the rest is up to you.

Our school has had a YE scheme since well before I started, and for years it was something to look forward to in the 6th form. Almost every one of us joined up since it was pushed as being a very desirable thing to have on your UCAS form, and, I’ll admit, since most of us had nothing better to do on a Thursday lunchtime. We were a large group, but decided to remain as one. Previously, some years have split into two, either though “creative difference” or for practical reasons. A school can have as many YE companies as they wish in any one year, though more than 3 would be viewed as odd, especially if they were small, indicating the achievers couldn’t work well together – teamwork being an important aspect of the whole thing. The organization recommends that staff members are available to oversee the company, and we had the two who have been performing this role for a number of years, and were great fountains of knowledge. It’s not compulsory, and some schools have no teachers who are willing to do this, but it does help. The first few meetings were well organized thanks to the start-up pack we got from YE which led us step by step through electing officers (I was marketing director) to choosing a company name. This is important because you cannot start selling shares, and thus raising capital, until you’ve come up with and registered your name. The names don’t have to be anything special, but the majority of members have to agree on them. For some reason our school always ends up with companies called things like “Zed” and “Passion”, but if you wanted to, there’s no reason why you couldn’t be called “The St Tiffany’s High YE Company”. Once these things were out of the way, the next step was to decide what our product would be. YE companies sell an item or offer a service, or sometimes both. There are very few restrictions on what you do, though things like selling food are discouraged because of the health and safety aspects. Though things don’t need to be definite, you need some idea before you can go on to the next step….selling shares. To be honest, a lot of the pupils and staff (who bought the majority of ours) would have invested on principle because it was the YE company, and that’s what you do, but for targeting those outside the school, they like to have some idea of what you’re going to be doing, and whether they think it’s worth investing. Shares are cheap – around 25p each – and it’s not hard to raise enough start up funds, especially with most achievers, and their parents, becoming disillusioned about how their company will be the best, most profitable ever, and enthusiastically investing.

YE companies are not limited to one product, and most will offer several to cater to different markets and occasions. The focus is on innovation, so you’re not supposed simply to buy things wholesale and re-sell them at a profit without any interference on your part. Our main product was photograph frames. These were bought from Ikea (3 for 99p) and then decorated by us with materials bough from a local market, or burnt with a Bunsen burner (one of those happy accidental discoveries) to produce a funky pattern. Then, they were sold within school at lunchtimes and breaks, on open mornings and so on, and also outside of school in various local shops. The advantage of a private school in a wealthy town is that you almost always have someone who either owns the business themselves, or knows the owner, and we soon had our goods all over the place. We also diversified following the success of the furry frames, making pens and cushion covers in the same range. Other companies have made jewelry, run slave auctions, produced valentines booklets (repeatedly – it never fails at side by side single sex schools). For some reason, and of course not just because yours truly was running the marketing and research side of things, we decided a chocolaty something was needed around Easter, and ran one of those “Guess how many mini eggs are in the jar?” competitions. It had nothing to do with our photo frames, but that didn’t matter. If you think there’s a market, you can sell a million completely different products during your company’s life.

While the production and selling were taking place, we were having weekly meetings to discuss how we were doing, in what way we could improve and so on. As well as the teachers, we had 3 volunteers from the local branch of an insurance firm who were our advisers on all things corporate. They had very little to do, however, since we were pretty much “full-steam-ahead” all the way, though I know people who have been advisors at other schools, and they’ve had their work cut out for them at times. Not all pupils are as motivated, and when there’s little support from teachers and family, it can be easy to think of giving up.

Towards the end of the year, we had a local presentation evening. All the companies from the local schools came together to describe what they’d done, what they’d learnt, what they knew now that they wish they’d known before. I wrote our speech, and presented it along with 3 others on the night. It was about 10 minutes long (you’re told your limit at some point approaching the event) and included PowerPoint slides. Neither these not the other alternative, OHPs, are required, but they are strongly recommended. After all the teams had presented, the judges got together, had a little natter and then announced the awards. The company they deem to be the best then progress first to county, then to regional then to national competitions. Awards are also given for things such as teamwork or exemplary product design. The idea of the scheme is not to just make a profit, and so no awards are given for this alone – as a shareholder you already get one when the dividends are paid. The judges vary from place to place, and from year to year, but ours were very much glared at in our year after they proceeded to announce their 1st, 2nd and 3rd price winners, all of whom were companies from state schools. My home area is fairly affluent with many independent schools, and there were more of us there from these than from our comprehensive counterparts, but despite this, and despite various parents and advisers – from all the schools – saying our companies had done more and presented better than the others, none of us were placed. It’s a shame, in a way, that you can’t present blindly – without people knowing from which school you come - because there are prejudices out there, and they more often than not work against you. It’s like the whole universities saying “let’s let state school kids with lower grades onto our courses” thing. Just because we went to schools where class sizes were 20 or below, and we got 9 week summer holidays doesn’t mean we didn’t work for our ‘A’s. Type of school should not be an issue when applying for university, and it should not be an issue with YE presentations, but it often is. Rant over.

The other end-of-year activity, if you will, is the YE exam, your chance to show what you’ve learnt over the course of the year. It is not compulsory, but if you pass you get a nice little certificate. There are various levels of pass, but these are not that much to do with how involved you were with the company. In fact, one of our MDs ‘only’ got a pass while almost all of the rest of us got credits or distinctions. If you’ve taken Business studies at A Level, it is an exam that is *very* easy to do well in, but even if not, it’s hardly difficult, and to my knowledge, no one, at least at my old school, ever failed. It’s not a test you can revise for as such – it’s more to do with what you learnt from being in the company, rather than parroting facts. Theoretically a pass is the equivalent of 2 GCSEs at grade A-C but it theory it cannot be used as such in most instances. More useful is the fact that YE are now working towards incorporating those hideously over-rated but still expected ‘Key Skills’ achievements. It does make sense though, since you can hardly have a successful company without strong communication, and the odd person in the finance department who is good at sums.

*****

Despite the title, YE is not a game. It’s a serious set-up, and it would be perfectly possible to lose all the shareholders’ money and go bankrupt if you didn’t make the right decisions. People can be fired from their positions if they don’t pull their weight, and expelled from the company itself if they’re truly diabolical. It’s a real business, in the real world, and you’re not allowed to forget that.

I would recommend YE to any pupil who has the opportunity to take part in a scheme. It costs you nothing, and you do learn a lot – we got more from our 8 months here than our whole 2 years of Business Studies lessons. There are some things you have to see to believe, and some you have to take part in to understand.

*****

For more information:

www.young-enterprise.org.uk

Anyone can be a volunteer, though who are, or were once in some kind of employment are preferred. Training is provided before you’re let loose on your group, and many employers look very favourably on it, giving you the 2 or 3 hours off each week as part of a “care in the community” set up. Most like nothing better than to be able to add it to the social conscience section of their websites and press releases.

For students, YE is as desirable as they say it is. It looks good on a UCAS form, and shows responsibility on a CV, so don’t forget to include it on these.
 

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