Who will be the Dover district winner of the Young Enterprise business learning experience?

For the past several months, staff from Dover Harbour Board (DHB) have been helping students from schools across the district learn about the world of business and enterprise through the Young Enterprise Company Programme which involves groups of students forming and running real companies.

On Wednesday 30th April 2008, 5.30pm at The Ark, Dover, the companies will be presenting what they have learnt at the Dover District Young Enterprise Company Presentation Evening. Some will be competing to win the Dover competition and go through to the Kent Company Final and possibly beyond to the regional, national and European finals.

Judging the Dover district competition will be Ande Case, Secretary of the YE Dover Area Board; Dorothy Thom, Director of the East Kent Enterprise Agency; and Tim Waggott, Director of Finance,

DHB.

Bob Goldfield, Chief Executive of Dover Harbour Board, is due to announce the judges’ verdict at 8 p.m.

The following describes the companies for which DHB has been advising and takes a brief look at the experiences they have had…


Applies 2 U (Castle Community College, Deal)


‘Applies 2 U’ is a single product company, namely computer memory sticks, that their initial marketing exercises identified as a product that had good sales potential within the school community. The business started late in the school year and there is still work to do before the company can commence their sales drive in earnest but they expect to release their product shortly. One of the key decisions was how could the company create or add value to its memory sticks at only nominal additional cost to make their product more attractive than the product available from local retailers. The necessity, and difficulty, of creating a unique selling point to provide a competitive advantage for the business, was a useful and ongoing lesson.


Utopia (Dover College)


Dover College is represented by the company 'Utopia'. The company consists of 12 students, each with their own roles and responsibilities within the company. Utopia is a financially thriving company which has managed to capture the market at Dover College. At the school Christmas bazaar, Utopia took orders for school hooded sweaters, school calendars and i-pod accessories. For Valentines Day, Utopia sold roses to secret admirers at the college. Throughout the course of the Young Enterprise programme, members of Utopia have learnt the importance of keeping to deadlines and managing their time, whilst also working individually and as part of a team, to create a successful company.


Sir Roger Manwood’s offer all year 12 students the opportunity of taking part in Young Enterprise as an extra curriculum activity. This year three teams took part in the Company Programme, running real companies and gaining first hand valuable business experience…

Tempo (Sir Roger Manwood’s School, Sandwich)

One of the teams, ‘Tempo’, would happily admit it hasn’t all been plain sailing! Having decided on their product, a DVD of school events put to music, they were then thwarted by their business advisor who raised the issue of ‘copyright’. Tempo were determined not to let this stand in their way, and after extensive research came up with a solution to their problem. For all these students, Young Enterprise has highlighted the importance of planning, having key objectives and most importantly working as a team.


1337 (Sir Roger Manwood’s School, Sandwich)


‘1337’ decided at an early stage that it would be a service/retail based company rather than a manufacturer. As a result they were able to affect some early initiatives including a football competition which was well supported and generated their first revenue. The team have met and dealt with a number of challenges similar to those faced by any company board of Directors and taken some tough decisions along the way. They would be the first to admit that running a successful company is not a simple task but they are all much wiser for the experience.


One-One (Sir Roger Manwood’s School, Sandwich)


‘One-One’ have successfully developed and produced several products varying from imported hand warmers from China to home made products such as calendars and chocolate roses. The company also organised a Wii sports program which they ran through the lunch hour and also proved very successful. The group, made up of students from China and the UK, found that communication and planning were significant challenges as were the issues of health and safety and running a bank account. Valuable lessons were learnt in all of these areas.


The Green Footprint Group (Dover Grammar School for Boys)


‘The Green Footprint Group’ is a very enthusiastic and industrious team of sixth formers. They have chosen a highly topical subject that has major international and commercial competitive awareness, ECO - Green - Environmental impacts and have been 'spreading the word' in a number of positive ways; ECO Days with invited audiences - Visiting Primary Schools with bespoke ECO - Road Shows, gaining Primary School ECO sponsorship from local businesses and producing a durable and reusable shopping bag that will, in the long term, go towards replacing the plastic carrier bag. They have had to deal with tensions within their team, understand the value of compromise agreements and to take a broader view of the impacts as a whole…...the bigger picture.

Passion (Dover Grammar School for Girls)


Dover Girls Grammar is represented by the company ‘Passion’. The group consists of 15 members, each taking an active role in running the company and promoting the products. These products included selling roses to the Boys Grammar School on Valentine's Day, a successful quiz night, group photos in a presentation frame and homemade candle holders. Running the company has taught the team the importance of communication and working together.

Last year DHB gave a commitment to provide business advisers and the necessary funding to every eligible school in the district that wished to participate in the Young Enterprise Company Programme. This year’s Presentation Evening will provide the opportunity to see the first results of this ongoing commitment.

Bob Goldfield, Chief Executive of Dover Harbour Board said: “the skills learnt by all of the participating students are vital to any business and so will be valuable in preparing them for their future careers in which we wish them every success.”

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