Osaka YMCA Business College have piloted a program that sees students work in teams to start their own social enterprise, learning about the challenges and obstacles of running a business as they go.
Starting up a business of any kind is never easy, but in just three months, the eleven participating college students have demonstrated their ability to plan, prepare and persist in ways they previously might not have thought possible.
The idea of the YMCA program, known as Youth For Causes, is to create a start-up small business with profits going towards a charity of the group’s choice.
However before they could even get started on developing their product, groups were required to have their business idea approved by the Global Department of Osaka YMCA. This involved presenting their proposal to a panel where they would receive feedback and eventually come to a business agreement.
Once approved, groups received a small budget to help get their enterprise off the ground.
The social enterprises launched were all of a very high standard. Last week, the groups presented their business journey and results in a Dragon’s Den style meeting, where the Global Department again formed a panel to vote on a group that would receive renewed funding.
The social enterprises were: ‘Fantastic’ -selling fans for the summer heat, ‘Smile 4 You’ -handmade felt craft notebook covers and ‘Wings’ – handmade purses, bracelets and bags.
Starting off small, the groups explained how they were able to make sales through their existing network of peers and staff at the YMCA headquarters in Tosabori.
“Once customers knew that what we were selling would help a developing country, they were eager to buy,” says Eiei Phyo from Myanmar, part of the Wings social enterprise. Profits from Wings were donated to YMCA Myanmar to go towards supporting vulnerable young people in their home country.
Aside from raising money for worthy causes, the benefit of the Youth For Causes program is also to give students first-hand business experience that will be useful in years to come.
“We learnt how to deal with customers and how to use time productively… I also learnt how to sew!” Alisher Makhmudov from Tajikistan, part of the Smile 4 You group.
Congratulations to all students involved, and in particular the group from Wings, who narrowly took out the most votes for more funding. We look forward to what the future brings for your social enterprises!