How many times have we heard that small businesses and the self-employed amount to around 96 per cent of commercial activity in Malta? In order to succeed, these businessmen and women need to foster an entrepreneurial spirit. MATTHEW XUEREB looks into the importance of enterprise education in our schools

Enterprise education is vital for the Maltese economy to be competitive. Young Enterprise offers a programme that helps to instil an entrepreneurial spirit in first-year sixth form students, aged 16 and 17, helping them understand better what running a business really means and, more importantly, to appreciate the importance of working as part of a team by sharing ideas and skills. The contribution of each team member will help their company in achieving its objectives.

Young Enterprise helps students to enhance their leadership, cooperation, communication, marketing, budgeting and organisational skills by providing hands-on experience in running their own businesses.

In a nutshell, Young Enterprise is an organisation which offers a programme that bridges the gap between the classroom and world of work.

During a short seven-month period, the participating students get a unique hands-on experience in running their own businesses – setting up their own company, choosing a product, carrying out market surveys, solving difficult business problems, dealing with interpersonal behaviour differences and ensuring they keep to established management standards.

Operating under the Learning by Doing philosophy, Young Enterprise bridges the gap between the classroom and the world of work. Undoubtedly, this experience gives this new generation an invaluable boost to their future careers.

Having participated in Young Enterprise myself and having been involved in Young Enterprise for a number of years as an adviser and a director on the board, I believe that the Maltese student has a wealth of innovative ideas and talents to contribute. It is through organisations such as Young Enterprise that these are brought out.

In the 18 years that Young Enterprise has existed in Malta, Maltese Young Enterprise teams have performed outstandingly even at an international level. In fact, Maltese Young Enterprise companies have won the European Company of the Year and the Best Overall Company at the European Trade Fair Awards on more than one occasion. This proves that Maltese students possess innovative ideas, drive and confidence to be winners and this remains present during their future careers.

Learning about business while having fun is the main concept on which the Young Enterprise extra-curricular activity is based. It inspires and educates young people to understand and value the role of business through practical business projects. By running their own company as if in the real world, students are given the opportunity to test their ideas, skills and ability to cope with new and often difficult situations.

The competition is fun, but admittedly, it is certainly not an easy ride. The hours are long and get longer when orders start pouring in. Participants often find themselves struggling to maintain a balance between their commitment to the team, their schoolwork and their private lives. But even this has an educational aspect and time management is another quality that participants acquire.

Investing in education to ensure our success

Edwin Vassallo

Parliamentary Secretary for small businesses and the self-employed

In March 2005, the Parliamentary Secretariat for Small Businesses and the Self-Employed within the Competitiveness and Communications Ministry created a National Programme on Entrepreneurship, with the aim of having initiatives in favour of entrepreneurial education in schools.

The importance of enterprise education in schools cannot be overstated. Micro and small businesses make up 96 per cent of Malta’s commercial activity and it is imperative that we work to develop an entrepreneurial mentality which will allow these small businesses to flourish. However, this mentality will not develop by itself. Entrepreneurship is a skill that needs to be taught, and the best place to start is in our schools.

There are a number of programmes available for students who are interested in entrepreneurship, and as a secretariat, we have always worked closely with Young Enterprise, Scoops, Start Up Malta and SIFE and are promoting the sharing of entrepreneurial experience through the “learning by doing” system which has been adopted by Young Enterprise Malta since its inception.

When we started working on the concept of introducing entrepreneurship at an early level, even in primary schools, we initially found some resistance to the idea. Teachers thought that this would be an additional subject that would have to be taught in the same way as other subjects. However, the whole point of enterprise education is that it can be integrated in other subjects and applied in any lesson.

We have always worked very closely with Young Enterprise and thanks to this collaboration, we are now initiating pilot projects with several primary schools, with the aim of giving entrepreneurial experience to children in primary schools.

We will also be organising meetings with the children’s parents in these schools so that they will be more aware of what is being done in schools in this respect. We are also hoping that by teaching children the meaning and value of entrepreneurship, we will also be passing on the message to the parents.

As a secretariat, we have been organising meetings with students in primary and secondary schools in order to introduce them to the subject of entrepreneurship. During meetings with students at various levels in different schools, I have also emphasised the importance of considering self-employment as a viable option to employment with other people, while introducing the young students to the concept that being in business means being of service to others. Entrepreneurship is not solely about making money.

We also have close ties with MCAST and have been organising meetings for final-year students. During these meetings, a number of representatives from different departments and authorities have spoken to students about entrepreneurship and have also been giving all the possible information about the services offered to and legal obligations of businesses.

In this way, we have been working to diffuse entrepreneurship at all levels of education and in fact are also working to introduce entrepreneurship as a subject to be discussed at university level. Entrepreneurship education should be a subject common to all studies. We need to continue encouraging our students to participate in schemes such as Young Enterprise in order to nurture tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.

Malta’s competitive future depends on our abilities and skills. We must work for more added value in our products and services. We cannot afford to be second best. We need to think differently and act differently, thus solving our problems in a different way. We are creating a knowledge-based society by investing in education.

Enterprise education – the way forward

Karl Gouder

CEO Young Enterprise

For our economy to thrive, one of the most important tools that we have to invest in is enterprise education.

By enterprise education we mean that we give the basic entrepreneurial skill to our students from a very young age. Children from the age of five should start getting exposed to risk-taking, decision-making, money management and the lot.

Young Enterprise has the mission of doing just this. Currently about to launch the 19th year of operation, the aim of Young Enterprise, through its company programme, is to instil entrepreneurial skills in students attending post secondary institutions.

Students are encouraged to form their own company and operate it for a period of one scholastic year. Through this programme, students develop their character in a way that they will be able to face the future with much more confidence. They tend to become very confident at selling themselves, their ideas and their products to strangers. They tend to improve on their presentation and organisational skills.

Most of all, however, they tend to realise that they are capable of going for any challenge and coming out of it with flying colours. This is the experience of all past students so far.

Apart from the company programme, Young Enterprise is about to enhance its mission by developing its programmes at primary level. Through its primary programme, students aged five to 11 will come into basic contact with the concept of money management, city-planning, leadership and basic risk-taking. Through these programmes, our students will, from a very young age, be better equipped, not only to become better entrepreneurs but moreover, to face life with the confidence required.

There are no doubts that this country needs the programmes and needs them urgently. The Lisbon Agenda criteria show that Malta still has some way to go with regard to enterprise, and as with most things in life, it is education that can improve our general situation by far.

Young Enterprise feels that it has a lot to contribute in this field and it is doing its utmost to ensure that the maximum amount of students possible participate in these programmes.