RUNNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS:

Transcription

1 RUNNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS: LEADER'S NOTES The Scout Association Registered Charity Numbers (England and Wales) and SC (Scotland).

2 introduction It all starts with an idea and it could be the start of a fantastic career. If your Scouts dream of starting their own business, passion is the first thing they need. After that, it s a roller coaster ride. Planning. Excitement. Hard work. Reward. They can experience all these things. The Scout Association working with RBS The Scout Association has teamed up with RBS MoneySense to produce this resource for Scouts to help them learn how to budget. It will help you deliver a balanced programme of activities. There is also a Scout activity pack which should be provided to each Scout as further support. The activities in the pack relate to those outlined here, but parts of them can also be done at home. This resource will help you run activities for Scouts to learn more about: Business basics Being an entrepreneur Fair business It s part of a series of five RBS sponsored activity packs covering a number of money management skills in simple ways that you can include in your programme: These resources should help give Scouts confidence in themselves and their own ideas, and, of course, be great fun. Money and your life Staying on budget Bringing the fun into fundraising Running your own event Running your own business Badges This will help towards: Creative Challenge Promise Challenge Administrator Activity Badge Make money make sense RBS run MoneySense, a programme that has helped more than two million British young people to develop money management skills. All materials are impartial and do not promote RBS products or services. Find out more at

3 ACTIVITY: Get down to basics This activity will encourage Scouts to think about how they might start their own business. With talk of strategies, business plans and USPs, at first glance the world of business can seem hard to understand. But it all boils down to basics. A good idea is one based on the individual s strengths, which they can make money from. Encourage your Scouts to think about a business idea. Discuss what they want their business to do and by when. With a bit more detail, it will be a strategy or business plan. Ask them to write 50 characters on why the business is special and ensure they ve got a USP (Unique Selling Point). You may need access to the internet to help them research costs for any equipment. I want to have my own internet business because I want to have the freedom to do what I want and make my own decisions. Jane, 13, Edinburgh HOW TO DO THE ACTIVITY 1. Ask your Scouts to partner up and work together to complete the form in their Running Your Own Business activity pack to create a business plan (20 minutes). 2. Ask the Scouts to present their ideas to the Troop (20 minutes). 3. Ask them in their own time to complete the Business Basics quiz in their Running Your Own Business activity pack.

4 ACTIVITY: trading post Experience is key in the business world. This activity will help Scouts think about what strengths they already have in business and try business basics like costings and strategy. What you need: Pen and paper. Copies of the business plan form contained within the Running your own business activity pack. A team of about five people. Pretend start up money for each team (we suggest ). You could use Monopoly money for this, or make your own pretend currency. Equipment available to buy from the trading post at various prices including: scissors, sticky tape, card, colouring pens, paper art straws, pipe cleaners, glitter, glue, boxes, wheels, cogs, micro chips (could be tin foil squares), switches, wires, string How long: About one hour and 45 minutes. Keep in mind: When they re sold, all items and materials become the property of Trading Post. Trading Post staff (adult volunteers) will offer to pay for the teams products based on quality, so the amount teams charge for products or services is negotiable. It s a chance for Scouts to practise their bartering skills. Staff are firm but fair. Teams can decline an offer and improve their item before finally selling it. Each item a team sells to the Trading Post has to be different. Teams can sell items to other teams, but they are responsible for getting tools back to the Trading Post if they hired it. 4. Teams get a ten minute warning before they have to start wrapping up business. HOW TO DO THE ACTIVITY 1. Divide into four teams of about five (5 minutes). The Scouts are going to start up a business using equipment that is laid out for sale or hire on the two tables in your meeting room. In that time teams need to return all tools to the Trading Post or they will be fined. At the end the Trading Post will announce the winner the team who was paid the most during the evening by the Trading Post (10 minutes). Ask the Scouts to take a look round the room and think about what they could make using the equipment. Each item will cost a different amount to hire or to buy and each team will have a start up budget of. The items should be priced so that the teams shouldn t be able to buy everything. The task will be to use the equipment to create something or sell a service which the Scout Leaders and adult volunteers at the Trading Post will buy from the team. The winning team is the one that has been paid the most by the Trading Post at the end of the game not the team with the most cash. 2. Ask the Scouts to put together a business plan for the task (30 minutes). 3. The teams start work on their product when the Scout Leader says it s time to start trading (one hour).

5 The Scout Apprentice Inspired by TV s The Apprentice, this activity will help Scouts learn the skills needed in business and to work as a team. It's time to form a team and get started. What you need: Pen and paper. Teams of about five people. Start up money for each team (we suggest ). Equipment for stands (which each team will decide on). I ve always wanted to have my own restaurant because my parents run one. I help them out at the weekends and it s good fun, so I think I can do it too. Luke, 12, Cardiff How long: This activity will take up two meetings plus two hours at a local event. How to do the activity 1. Split the Scouts into four teams of about five people (5 minutes). 2. Each team will have a stall at an upcoming community event. The Scouts need to plan, organise and run their stall. The Scout Leader will provide each team s start up costs. The team which raises the most money wins. Teams will have at least two meetings ahead of the event to plan their stall. One adult volunteer will be allocated to each team to help with ideas. Teams should spend the first meeting thinking about: What they want to do What roles they will each have What equipment they will need for their stand and where they think they might be able to get it from Why people will buy their product How they can promote their product At the end of the first meeting, teams must be prepared to present their ideas to the rest of the Troop and submit a list of the equipment they need to their Scout Leader (One hour and 45 minutes). 3. At the next meeting the teams further plan their stand. The Scout Leader will let them know what equipment they will be able to provide and what they will need to find themselves (One hour and 45 minutes). Post activity discussion After the event hold an informal group discussion with the Scouts on how they think their project went, how they would do things differently next time and what they think they ve learnt from the experience.

6 This activity will help Scouts think about the chain of people involved in business (called supply chains) and their own business values. Business can be a competitive world. But that doesn t mean it can t be fair. An aspect of fair business is fair trade which helps farmers and workers in developing countries get a decent price for their foods or goods. There are a lot of decisions to make in business and the ones you make affect a lot more people than yourself and your company. I ve had my newspaper round since I was 13 and I enjoy working so I think I d like to have my own business. I m not sure what I d do but I m always trying to think of ideas. Angela, 13, Bristol What you need: Pen and paper. Copies of the cards below. Some Top Quality Cocoa Beans (use thin 100mm x 100mm cardboard squares). Some Second Quality Beans (use 100mm corrugated cardboard squares, with a large letter X marked on each side). One 100mm x 100mm piece of card is equal to one bag of cocoa that miraculously changes into one bar of chocolate. Pretend money for each team. Two teams of cocoa growers, four teams of supermarkets, four teams of traders. How long: One hour 25 minutes. How to do the activity 1. Divide the Scouts into two teams of cocoa growers (one will be Fred Fairtrade the other Charlie Cheapo), five teams of supermarkets (A-E), four teams of traders. 2. They re going to start trading in fair trade chocolate. Tell them whether their team are cocoa growers, supermarkets or traders and brief each team about their role in this activity. The briefing cards on the next page will help you brief the teams about their roles. 3. Once you ve briefed the teams and given them their budgets it s time to start trading. When the whistle is blown the traders will start the game by first buying beans from the growers and selling chocolate on to the supermarkets. Every time the whistle is blown a new season starts. Check the table on the last page to work out how this affects what the supermarkets need to buy. Each team should keep track of what they buy and sell. Remember, the aim for each team is to trade each season and end up at the end of the game with more money than they had to begin with (One hour). 4. Once the game is over each team should report back on how they did. Did they have to make any compromises to make money? Discuss how they found the activity and what they think they learnt from it (25 minutes).

7 briefing cards Cocoa Growers There are two types of cocoa growers: 1. Fred Fairtrade You only produce top quality beans. You invest the money you make in schools and fresh water supplies and pay fair wages to your workers. Last season, you produced 20 bags of cocoa and sold them to various chocolate makers for per bag. You can increase production by a maximum of five bags each season and cannot really afford to reduce prices below per bag. 2. Charlie Cheapo You only produce second quality beans and don t care about fair wages or schools. Last season, you produced 20 bags of cocoa and sold them to various supermarkets for 3 per bag. Your community will starve if you sell for less than per bag. You can increase production by a maximum of five bags each season and can just about survive on 2 per bag. 3 per bag gives you an adequate living but does damage the environment (but do you care about this?). Supermarkets Supermarkets have 200 each and can buy chocolate bars from chocolate makers who offer the best deal. Two sorts of chocolate are available: 1. Chocolate made from top quality beans on a fair trade plantation. 2. Chocolate made from second quality beans. How much supermarkets are prepared to pay for chocolate depends on: 1. Which supermarket they are 2. The quality of the beans Demand from customers is limited and they try to buy at the lowest price to satisfy that need. How much they buy from each chocolate maker depends on the demand from customers but also on the reliability of the chocolate supplier. There are five different supermarkets: Supermarket A Only sells branded chocolate and accepts chocolate made from top quality beans. You are prepared to pay a premium for fair trade products. Supermarket B Only sells own brand chocolate and accepts chocolate made from top quality beans. You are prepared to pay a premium for fair trade products. Supermarket C Sells branded and own brand chocolate. You will buy fair trade chocolate at one price and second quality chocolate at a lower price. Supermarket D Only sells own brand chocolate and only accepts chocolate made from second quality beans. For you, low prices are important. Supermarket E Internet trader. You have free rein to sell whatever you can. Traders Traders Your team (the smallest in the game) is a chocolate maker. Your mission is to negotiate with the producers to buy beans and then sell the chocolate you make from them to the supermarkets for the best price. One bag of beans makes one chocolate bar. You have 0.

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11 CM MY CY CMY Table for leaders.pdf 1 01/09/ :25 Supermarket Volume and Price per Season (please fill in the prices you paid for each bar) Super market Grade of bean LAST SEASON Season # 1 Season # 2 Season # 3 Season # 4 Season # 5 Quantity bought Price Max. demand Price Max. demand Price Max. demand Price Max. demand Price Max. demand A Top A Second Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil A Top+ fillings Nil Nil Nil Nil 3 5 B Top B Second Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil C Top C Second D Top Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil D Second E Any Nil Price Top Second Top + Fillings Season # 6 Season # 7 Season # 8 Season # 9 Season # 10 Season # 11 Resource produced using Programmes Online s REF: POL The Scout Association 2006 C M Y K