businessdynamics is part of the Enterprise Education Trust. We have brought business to life for students for more than thirty years.
Sir Paul Judge, Chairman of the Enterprise Education Trust, reflects on thirty years of delivering innovative enterprise education programmes and looks forward to continuing to develop this success.
“In 1977 when we were founded by 3i, Europe’s leading venture capital company, the business was a dirty word. Students were not properly presented with the option of enterprise or self-employment as a career path. There was also little involvement or interaction by business in schools and there was hardly any appreciation by schools of the importance of business in wealth creation.
Since then public perception has improved and we believe that we have made a significant contribution to this change through the more than 500,000 young people who have attended our innovative programmes in schools and colleges.
Our founder, 3i, has continued as one of our key sponsors, thereby demonstrating by example the value of a long-term investment. Building on this wonderful support, we now have over 1,800 British companies who provide their managers to go into schools to talk to young people about the challenges and opportunities of business.
We have helped to shape attitudes to wealth creation, we have stimulated entrepreneurial thinking amongst young people and we have provided teachers with resources and information to develop their students’ understanding of business.
Enterprise is crucial for the economy, for the innovation of our services and for the enrichment of our society. Our partner companies help us by facilitating entrepreneurs and business people in taking these messages into the classroom. At the same time, the managers who participate develop their own skills – improving their communication, presentation and organisational skills.
Over the years we have increased our impact by making use of new technologies, new teaching methods and new attitudes. We intend to develop our programmes to meet the increasing demands from students who are keen to learn and to understand even more about business and enterprise. At the same time we aim to meet the expanding needs of businesses and entrepreneurs who want to engage more directly with their future talent.
If you are a teacher or student we hope that our work is supporting you. If you are an entrepreneur or business professional we hope that you will help to support our work either as a volunteer or corporate partner.”