The B-Enterprising team spent their contractual volunteering time working with business studies year 12 students from Joseph Chamberlain College (JCC) to inspire enterprise, innovation, and creativity. Using our skills and expertise in programme and event coordination, we delivered an event where students generated ideas to build a commercially viable tropical island, addressing sustainability issues and real-world problems. Students built their teamwork and presentation skills through sharing their ideas to a group of judges to win the grand prize.
Students from the B-Enterprising Student Enterprise Ambassador (SEA) programme and the Outreach Officer programme, were on hand to deliver excellent support throughout the day. JCC students asked them questions about university life and worked with them to grow their ideas.
The afternoon saw our very own University of Birmingham entrepreneurs deliver talks about their ventures and experiences. SEA Alex Perry, spoke about the setbacks of pursuing the niche industry lego art design, along with the triumphs when sales finally land. Elevate and Female Founder programme runner-up Abi Edmunds, discussed her business Social Media Resilience and the dangers of doom scrolling (something we can all relate to!). She spoke at depths about the barriers she had to overcome to build confidence in the venture, but also herself.
The students at staff from JCC had inquisitive questions for our entrepreneurs:
- “Would you give up your degree to do this full time?”
- “How do I stop procrastinating?”
- “What was your biggest challenge?”
- “How much money do you make?”
JCC staff feedback stated:
- “They (the students) were very engaged. The session allowed them to be creative and is different to their everyday learning.”
- “I would definitely bring my students to an event like this again”
- “The day was well structured and the content was appropriate.”
- “It is great to bring the students to UoB. They get to see they students having lunch, going about their everyday lives. This lets them see that one day they too could come here.”
JCC students feedback outlined:
- 92% agreed that the day met their expectations
- 84% agreed that the skills, knowledge, and insights gained were useful
- 88% agreed that they would recommend the programme to friends and colleagues
It was inspirational to see young entrepreneurial minds at work and the impact the day had on those involved. Hopefully, one day soon we will see some of the students wandering around the campus searching for their lecture room, walking under Old Joe (definitely not when the bell is chiming) or maybe even taking part in another B-Enterprising activity. Who knows what the future may hold. With our help, it could B-enterprising…
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