Young Enterprise - Project Business
On Thursday 26 March 2009, 7 volunteers from Nabarro (Samantha Wright, Christine Ormond, Josephine Wagner, Natasha Rughani, Will Lo, Deborah Simpson-Haas and Lara Machnicki) took a day off from being lawyers and went to teach business and enterprise to schoolchildren at Westminster Academy. The aim was to deliver a Young Enterprise programme entitled 'Project Business' to a group of twenty-five 14 year old students. The programme is designed to develop the students' understanding and appreciation of business and enterprise through a series of lessons exploring the relationship between businesses and stakeholders, shareholders, employees, the community and the environment.
Having completed their Young Enterprise training a week earlier, the volunteers arrived at the school eager to meet their students. Each team of volunteers ran their own classroom and after introducing themselves began the first lesson; the morning got off to a great start. The promise of prizes at the end of day certainly captivated everyone's attention and kept the students focused. Throughout the day the students got involved in a range of tasks, games and presentations, including setting up a bracelet making business, trading shares in each other's companies and designing a job advertisement. It looked set to be an intense day for the students and volunteers alike, but everyone rose to the challenge. By home time, the students had a better idea of the roles played by businesses in the economy, and the exhausted but fulfilled volunteers looked forward to some well deserved rest before returning to the office on Friday.
"Teaching a group of 14 year olds was both challenging and exciting. I think we all learned a great deal from the experience and were encouraged by the positive feedback from the children. Certainly in some ways it was more demanding than a day in the office - but I would jump at the opportunity to do it again!" (Natasha Rughani - Trainee Solicitor)
