The School Enterprise Challenge is designed to help young people to become socially responsible entrepreneurs, who seek not just to make a profit, but also think about their planet and the people around them. The challenge is a global business start-up Awards Program run by the educational charity Teach A Man To Fish.
Students are expected to design businesses models that have a social and environmental focus. They also develop essential skills in business and entrepreneurship in a practical, fun and innovative way. There is $50,000 in prizes available for the most entrepreneurial schools, teachers and students.
Examples in the past have varied from setting up a business making and selling solar modules for charging mobile phones and lighting units in Cameroon to a school in Scotland marketing and selling jewelry made by their partner school in Meru, Kenya using recycled materials. A primary school in Sierra Leone started a water harvesting business to sell water to their community to address the lack of water wells in their community while one in Tanzania started a vegetable production business because it was difficult to get fresh vegetables in their village. With the profits from the business, they have managed to buy exercise books and sport clothes for the students.
In 2016, the School Enterprise Challenge supported 49,491 students worldwide to set up educational and profitable school businesses.
The Challenge launches in February and runs all year round! Each Award level is divided into three similar steps: Business Idea, Business Plan and Annual Report.
- Step 1: Students think of a Business Idea and submit it to us. (Do so within 4 weeks and they could win a prize!).
- Step 2: Students develop a Business Plan for their school enterprise and submit it by 30th June 2017.
- Step 3: Students launch and run a real school enterprise for at least 3 months. Students submit an Annual Report by 16th October 2017 updating us on their business