Here at Pendragon we get involved in a lot of community events, whether it is fundraising for medical research or donating our time and effort to good causes/community events.
A couple of weeks ago Pendragon’s Director; John Glover attended the Australian Business Week at The Hills Grammar School where their year ten students showcased their business acumen during a week-long focus on setting up and running a business from scratch, accumulating at the end of the week with at a trade display. John donated a week of his valuable time to mentor these students so they can gain a greater understanding of business as they take over and run their own simulated company. John along with other mentors from the business community guided the students to be able to make all the management decisions for a successful operation of their business.
Some of the presentations to the students during the week were by ex-students who have now opened up their own successful path in running a business themselves, which was a great experience for the existing year ten students.
Throughout the week John spent his time coaching the students about the full complexity of business activity. In his sixth year of mentoring, John knows that all the participants of the program come away with a greater understanding of finance and business strategy, marketing, operations, managing the broad range of business resources, and human resources.
One of the highlights of the week is on the Friday morning when each team has to present to the mentors, John being one of those, in a dragons den style format, about their business and how or why the mentors should invest. “It’s a tough presentation and we are always amazed at the professionalism and content”, John commented.
Pendragon also sponsored one of the awards which are presented on the Friday evening at the end of the program after the best trade display has been picked by the parents, sponsors and mentors that attend the evening. The awards were given to the teams who excelled in the following areas: Best Cafe Manager (CEO), Best Video, Best Simulation, Best Web Design, best Advert etc.
The program aims to help introduce all the year ten students to business and prepare them for the ‘real world’ of business. Australian Business Week is a fantastic program; Pendragon would encourage any businessman/woman to get involved!
