Mile Oak schoolchildren learn how to run a business at enterprise day

Children at Mile Oak Primary School took part in the Business in a Box day

Delivered by Albion in the Community (AITC), the official charity of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (BHAFC) and backed by American Express, the ‘Business in a Box’ session provides a toolkit of basic business principles, packaged neatly into a series of ‘The Apprentice’ style tasks and challenges.

The programme worked with 60 Year Five pupils at the school, with small teams of budding entrepreneurs creating a business and producing a product with the potential to be a Christmas gift best-seller – bars of soap.

Each team of pupils was tasked with deciding upon individual roles, creating a company name and logo, identifying a target market, looking into costs and profit margins, branding, design and packaging. Teams also prepared a marketing campaign (posters, flyers, website page, TV and radio adverts) and business pitch which they delivered to a panel of judges.

Beverly Sawyers, vice president at American Express, said: “There are a number of ‘Business in a Box’ Enterprise days supported by Amex colleagues through the year. It’s a great way to share commercial insights into the world of work and help introduce pupils at an early age to valuable life skills such as communication, resilience and teamwork. We were very impressed by their creativity, enthusiasm and engagement throughout the day.”

Frazer Simpkins, curriculum development officer at AITC, said: “This is one of a number of curriculum days we offer schools across Sussex, held at their school or the Amex Stadium. These enrichment days are a great way to build pupils’ confidence, presentation skills and business acumen, while having fun and working as a team. It’s encouraging to see what the pupils can achieve in one day. As an added bonus the pupils get to take away their products to gift to family members or friends over the festive season.”

Primary schools across Sussex interested in taking part next year, or looking for further information about AITC’s schools programme should email: [email protected]