Enterprising students hit the London Stock Exchange to tell city traders about their international business.

Students at Skinner's Company School for Girls in London have developed a business with the help of Achievers International and are trading products with their partner school in Berlin. 
 
They set up a stall outside the London Stock Exchange to launch the countdown to Global Entrepreneurship Week. Despite the credit crunch, business is booming and some of the students are thinking about setting up businesses in the future. Five students explained how they got started.

Patrycja, Product Director 

"We’ve set up a stall to present the products we’re trading and show people our company. We haven’t got everything perfect yet because this is our first year but it’s going well. We’ve made a profit.

Because we go to a business and enterprise school, we’re all quite entrepreneurial and ambitious. I’ve set up my own jewellery business. I wanted to try it because it was exciting and a new thing to do. We have nothing to lose by giving it a go.

I’m not very into business studies but setting up a business for real when I leave school is something I would consider.  I definitely want to work in Europe in future as I speak three languages so trading with Germany has been good experience."

Layla, Company Secretary

"Compared to our German partner school, I think that students in the UK are not that enterprising. Our partners are more organised, they took the project seriously from the start. They seem to know what they’re doing but they’ve been doing it for much longer than us.

I don’t really want to set up a business in future. This is more of an extra curricular project for me. It’s been really fun and we have got to go to talks from entrepreneurs. It was really inspiring to hear their stories; it shows you that you can do something on your own.

I do worry about the credit crunch as I’ve heard recently that, even if you go to university, you might not get a job. If I go to university and end up with nothing to do, that would be a problem and a waste of time. Hopefully things will get better in the next couple of years. I’m not too worried as I think that if you try hard then you’ll get there."

Lesley, Personnel Director

"Our business is called SKAIT which stands for Skinner's Achievers International Trading. We are trading products with a school in Berlin. We send them food like crisps and they send us German sweets you can’t get in the UK.

I would like to set up a business one day but when I’m a lot older - not in my twenties, maybe in my thirties. Having your own business is fulfilling, you feel proud of yourself. If I did this as a career, I would be worried about it being successful, especially with the credit crunch."

Waseema, Financial Director

"I want to set up my own law firm when I leave school. The project has taught me a lot of skills for the future like communicating and negotiating with people.

It’s been really rewarding. You feel proud of yourself and we’ve had a lot of compliments."

Ozlem, Managing Director

"We’ve had a couple of challenges to face. The currency was a big issue. We have to pay more than our partners to export our products. That was the main problem but we’ve solved it.

I’m not too worried about how the credit crunch will affect UK businesses or our futures at the moment. Fingers crossed the financial crisis will get better soon so things will be ok for us.

This is serious training as well as a school project. We need this experience for the future. Business is really worth studying - it teaches you a lot about life."

How did they do that?

Skinner's Company School for Girls in London set up their business with Sophie-Charlotte-Oberschule in Berlin through Achievers International.

The event took place during World Trade Week. Find out how to get involved with similar projects through Global Entrepreneurship Week.  

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