How we're helping students develop business skills

What we got up to

As part of IntoUniversity’s task, students were split into two teams of eight and competed to gain the most funding for a large charity concert. Students had to assign corporate roles within their teams, such as CEO, finance director and branding manager, and plan their event from the ground up.

OneFamily volunteers joined the teams as mentors and helped guide them through their tasks, with one volunteer joining IntoUniversity staff in the decision-making trustee board that assigned the students the funding they asked for.

They presented their plans, decisions and calculations to the trustee board in a series of meetings where they had to hand in various planning documents and forms. From designing logos and planning social media campaigns to writing letters to donors and figuring out how to keep a large event climate-friendly, the students worked hard to come up with brilliant ideas and find ways to make them work from a corporate point of view. At the final presentation, both teams really showed their strengths, making the final decision a very close call.

Over the course of the day, students who started out a bit nervous and insecure really came into their own and grew confident in their skills, ideas and decisions. Towards the end of the afternoon, many had shown themselves to be brilliant business minds in the making!