Graduates from the University of SIFE

The Insight Into Business Program (IIB) works closely with secondary schools throughout London to improve the financial literacy and business acumen of young students today.

High unemployment rates amongst young people today is a continuing problem within the UK. With the high costs of college placements and the low number of apprenticeships and jobs on offer young students are facing an increasingly complex financial world with fewer and fewer opportunities available. Socially disadvantaged youth are particularly affected, thereby perpetuating a vicious circle of poverty and social exclusion. It has become all too apparent that young students today are rarely given the chance to learn about business and finance thus shrinking a potentially lucrative avenue of opportunity. Insight Into Business is a project dedicated to providing the knowledge and skills necessary to allow young students to create their own success.

It has been said that an individual becomes an entrepreneur through the experience of actually going out and trying to start a business. Through a number of specially designed and highly interactive workshops we provide the fundamental knowledge and experience necessary to encourage students to become more entrepreneurial and give them the confidence to go out into the world and start a business of their own.

The program runs every year throughout the autumn term. Our workshops are typically divided into three sessions that are delivered on a weekly basis. Each session aims to provide an overview of a key fundamental aspect of the business development process.

Each year the program culminates in a competition in which teams from each school are set a business related task and then come to Imperial to compete. This year students competed to create a product or service that would best take advantage of the London 2012 Olympics.

Uniquely this year the competition was reformatted into a Dragon’s Den style. Each team had to present their product or service to the panel of dragons with a business plan. After scrutinising the teams, the dragons decided which idea was most worthy of investment. Our team of dragons this year consisted of a professor from the business school, a careers advisor and two of SIFE’s own business advisors.

The competition this year was an overwhelming success, which is amazing considering a city wide teachers strike forced teams from half of the schools to forfeit the competition. In spite of this the remaining teams performed admirably receiving nothing but praise for their outstanding presentations and innovative products/services. One such idea, a new Olympic based Smartphone app, was so good that certain members involved in the competition had considered actually creating it.

IIB is entering its third year of operation and it is a very exciting time. With two years worth of experience IIB has established itself as one of the big programs currently undertaken by SIFE. Fuelled by the success of the last session we are now looking to expand. We are currently working with organisations such as STEMNET to promote IIB and attract many more schools into the program.

In order to facilitate the higher number of schools we will naturally need a larger team. We at IIB are currently looking for passionate and committed individuals who are looking to get really involved in a worthwhile project.

All the work we do is London based so this is the perfect opportunity for anyone who is looking for community/ volunteer work. Also, for anyone thinking of joining the CV2012 award scheme next year, this will count towards your mandatory thirty hours. This is also naturally a perfect opportunity for anyone who is looking to improve their teaching skills.

There are a number of new initiatives we are looking to implement for this coming year to ensure the program runs smoothly.

A new hierarchy system will be introduced with a larger number of roles of responsibility being created. This will allow the more experienced IIB members to provide support to new members more effectively and ensure a smooth transition when the program is handed down each year.

This is also a great opportunity for anyone looking to enhance their CV. From leadership and teamwork to presentations, this program will provide numerous opportunities to enhance your transferrable skill set. Furthermore, our new merit system will give members the opportunity to progress within the project, so work hard, show us your passion and commitment and you could end up running the project.

There will be an induction session held later in the summer term giving an overview of the plans for the coming year and the different roles available. Additionally we are planning a formal training session to help everyone with their presentation and teaching skills.

This is really an amazing program to be involved in, so if you are interested just send an email to james.pearle08@imperial.ac.uk and join us in our effort to help the youth of today help themselves.