BrightsideUNIAID

Big Deal Blogs is a 10-week online enterprise challenge where teams of school students in years 9-10, develop competing business plans, by working through weekly assignments with their business mentors via the Big Deal Blogs ementoring website. The project enables students to;

• develop entrepreneurial skills
• gain first-hand business experience
• develop life skills and confidence
• understand more about careers.

Mentors support students to undertake SWOT analyses and market research, work in teams, prepare budgets and ultimately write their business plans.  Teams pitch their ideas to a Dragons Den style judging panel, with the best teams winning trips to New York or London – so there is all to play for!

Track record

Each year, the programme has grown in size and to date, Big Deal Blogs has reached 361 students and 96 mentors. For the third year running, BrightsideUNIAID is partnering with the Excellence Hub for Yorkshire and Humber, and the GOAL project at Warwick University to involve over 250 disadvantaged, gifted and talented students in Big Deal Blogs.

An independent evaluation of Big Deal Blogs in 2008, by The Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR) found that:

• 92% of mentees had developed their organisational skills;
• 95% had developed their planning skills;
• 89% had developed their communication skills;
• 79% were more interested in undertaking a career in business;
• 89% stated that their desire to attend a top university had increased.

Get involved

Big Deal Blogs is a great way for companies, business schools or university widening participation departments to support enterprise outreach initiatives aimed at helping young people. It is a flexible way for business professionals to volunteer (mentors come back year on year) and it is a short term, measurable project with demonstrable results.

BrightsideUNIAID is keen to expand Big Deal Blogs to help more young people. We are also keen to adapt this successful model for other sectors, such as media and advertising.

If you are interested, please contact Viki Nicholson at 0207 785 3890 or email viki.nicholson@brightsideuniaid.org