Enterprise lessons are on the curriculum at Sheffield Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber has worked with Sheffield Enterprise Agency (SENTA) to deliver a series of enterprise workshops for school teachers, as part of the ‘BiG – Make it Your Business’ initiative. SENTA has assisted in the delivery of the workshops to teachers from schools across the city, involving step by step talks through the planning stages of business start up.

The aim of the training is to enable teachers to have the knowledge to enhance the development of students who are interested in starting their own businesses and assist in finding the future entrepreneurs for the City. Teachers were given training on eight different business areas, including market research, overheads, sales forecasting, profit and loss, book keeping and marketing and selling.

Roger Maleham, enterprise champion at Fir Vale School, said: “The training was great and I feel it is very important to support enterprise development. Teachers should be aware of the business concepts that were covered through the training, because there is an increasingly important link between business and education.

“The information will be very useful for the students and will be fed back to them in the classroom to help them plan for the future.”

Schools attending the enterprise workshops were Handsworth Grange, Sheffield College, Wisewood School, Sheffield Springs Academy, Myers Grove School, Longley Park College, Sheffield City Council and Firth Park Community Arts College.

Debra Foster, Chamber contracts development manager, said: “The training provided was adapted from SENTA’s Business Start Up programme, which has been running successfully to assist new businesses. This initiative has been beneficial to teachers who want to give their students advice on how to be as entrepreneurial and innovative as possible, but also implement practical business knowledge.

“It has equipped the teachers to help any students who may be thinking about setting up their own business and can also be used as a tool to encourage students to think about going down that route who may not previously have given it any thought.”

As well as being involved in The BiG Young Entrepreneurs Club, Sheffield Chamber are also involved in the Young Chamber UK project, a national initiative that works with Fir Vale School on a local level. 

The BiG Young Entrepreneurs Club framework will benefit the future prospects of both the business community and the young residents of that community, while assisting in the goal of the BiG agenda – to create a culture of thriving business start-ups for the city.

From left to right: Mike Garnock-Jones – School Enterprise Champion, Myers Grove School, Sheffield; Debra Foster – Contracts Development Manager, Sheffield Chamber; Leanne Crookes – Teacher, Myers Grove School, Sheffield; Martyn Wynn – Teacher, Myers Grove School, Sheffield.