SENIOR DIVISION ONLY!
- Learn about different types of businesses
- Choose which type of business yours will be
- Write a mission statement for your business
These are the activities for this lesson:
WHAT IS A BUSINESS?
What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘business’? You might think of a local farm stand, a grocery store, a bank, or a big technology company like Facebook or WhatsApp.
A business is any organization or person that is doing something in exchange for money or another good.
Businesses can:
- make, buy, or sell goods (like a company that makes cars)
- provide services (such as a mobile phone service company).
There are many young people who have started their own businesses. For example, Megan Yap, a Technovation alumna from Malaysia, started her own business, Melli Studio, selling stickers online.
GOALS
Usually we think of a business as a way to make money, which is your profit.
Businesses can have other goals besides making money.
Social goals, like
- helping feed hungry people
- providing students with a better education.
Business goals, like
- creating eco-friendly products
- providing customers with the best product possible
All business have one thing in common; they need some way to bring in money so that they can continue to operate.
There are three main types of businesses – for profit, non-profit, and social enterprise.
FOR PROFIT BUSINESSES
For-profit businesses focus on earning a profit by selling goods or services. They can also have goals, such as creating the best products possible or having great customer service. Hover over each logo to learn more.
Apple
McDonald's
NON-PROFIT BUSINESSES
Non-profits exist to help solve a problem or contribute to a cause. They do not have the goal of making money. Hover over each logo to learn more.
UNICEF
Technovation Girls
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE BUSINESSES
Social enterprises focus on doing something beyond making a profit, like helping solve a social issue. They use some of the profit they make to accomplish this goal. Hover over each logo to learn more.
Morogoro Cocopeat
Every Table
ACTIVITY 1: CHOOSE A BUSINESS TYPE
Discuss these questions with your team
and write down your answers
- What do you want to accomplish by opening your business?
- What are some of the goals of your business?
- How do you think you can sustain (keep it running) your business?
- What type of business do you want yours to be? (for-profit, non-profit, or social enterprise)
You don’t need to have all the answers today but it is important to keep thinking of these as you build your business plan. You can always change the type of business as you further develop your project solution and business plan!
It helps to look at mission statements for other organizations for inspiration. See some examples below.
MISSION STATEMENTS
Your business goal really is to solve the problem that you identified, but you will also need money so that you can keep the business running or scale it up (grow its size and impact).
Stay true to the original goal of your business by staying close to your company’s mission statement.
A mission statement is a formal summary of the values of a company, organization, or individual.
Mission statements help companies determine what is important and what is not, and clearly state who will be served and how.
A mission statement is usually a short and simple sentence that outlines the organization’s purpose and how it accomplishes that purpose.
Your mission statement is the “heart” of your business.
Nike
“To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world.
*If you have a body, you are an athlete.”
Amnesty International
“Our vision is of a world in which every person – regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity – enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other internationally recognized human rights standards.”
Kiva
“Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. We celebrate and support people looking to create a better future for themselves, their families and their communities.”
ACTIVITY 2: WRITE A MISSION STATEMENT
Develop your mission statement as a team
- Should be 2-3 sentence long
- Should describe the goals of your business
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Some questions to guide you:
- What do we do?
- How do we do it?
- Whom do we do it for?
- What value are we bringing?
REFLECTION
You have accomplished a lot as you start to develop your business plan. Consider these questions:
REVIEW OF KEY TERMS
- Business – any organization or person that is doing something in exchange for money or another good
- Profit – money made from operating a business
- Non-profit – a company that has a goal other than making money
- Social Enterprise – a business that focuses on doing something beyond making a profit, like helping solve a social issue
- For Profit – a company that has the goal to make money
- Mission Statement – a formal summary of the values of a company, organization, or individual
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Here’s a short video explaining more about social enterprises.
