We ve included tips for writing your Company Report and information on how your company is being assessed.

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1 YE Link The Newsletter for NE Hampshire S P R I N G Young Enterprise - Achievers - I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : C O M P A N Y R E P O R T F R A M E W O R K W H A T S C O M I N G U P S O O N * A R E A F I N A L P L A N S F O R L A T E R I N T H E Y E A R * C O M P A N Y C L O- S U R E S P R I N G T R A D E F A I R P A G E S O F N E W S & P H O T O S A S S E S S M E N T O F C O M P A N Y P E R - F O R M A N C E S O M E F I N A L Q U E S T I O N S C O N T A C T S Alison Collington - YE Development Manager Advisers - Link Teachers - alison.collington@y-e.org.uk Roger Buck NE Hants Area YE Board Chair roger.buck@btinternet.com Bob Cornwell NE Hants Area YE Board Newsletter Editor yelink@virginmedia.com Board Members & Friends E D I T O R I A L This Spring issue of YE LINK is brought to you by your local Young Enterprise North-East Hampshire Area Board. In this edition we have included news of the Spring Trade Fair with photos and news of the highlight of the YE Company year, which is the NE Area Final to be held in the Pine Ridge Golf Club, Frimley. We ve included tips for writing your Company Report and information on how your company is being assessed. If you would like to let us know what you would like to see in future editions of the newsletter, please your suggestions to Bob Cornwell (Editor) or Roger Buck. C O M P A N Y R E P O R T Bearing in mind that the Area Final is early this year, it is time to write your Interim Company Reports. The judging criteria & required content may be found under YE Resources on your company website. The suggested content for the report is provided on the next page. Your advisers can give you guidance on writing the report but the actual document must be all your own work. Additional guidance and a checklist have been ed separately. Please share the work don t leave all the writing to one person to do. Deadline for submission is no later than Thursday 19th March. Key Dates for your Diary 015 Saturday 14th March (Morning) Trading Opportunity: Basingstoke, The Malls, Castle Square, Details have been ed. Please note that participation in this event will not be judged for the local competition. THURSDAY 19TH MARCH (TBC) Deadline for submission of Company Report Thursday 6th March Presentation Evening Pine Ridge Golf Club, Frimley. 16:00 to 0:30 Details have been ed to advisers and link teachers. Wednesday 6th May (Afternoon) County Final - venue Ordnance Survey Southampton. Tuesday 16th June (Daytime) South East Regional Final at Harwell Oxford Science & Innovation Campus, Oxford. FRIDAY 19th JUNE (TBC) Company Closure & Submission of Final Accounts; closing of bank accounts. Wednesday 31st July All companies MUST cease trading & close bank accounts. C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S G O T O GreenBox from Farnborough Hill who won the Best Company Award at the Spring Trade Fair at Princes Mead Farnborough on 7th February. The result was close but the runner up was Conspiracy from Farnborough 6th Form College. Conspiracy was the deserved winner of the recent Best Business Plan and Dragon s Den Awards.

2 Page T H E C O M P A N Y R E P O R T M A X I M U M 1 0 P A G E S + C O V E R B O D Y T E X T 1 1 P O I N T M I N I M U M, A 4 S I Z E P A P E R M A N D A T O R Y C O N T E N T ( F R O N T C O V E R A N D P A G E 1 ) FRONT COVER: Company Name/LOGO/PHOTO/SCHOOL/ TEACHER/ADVISER/Adviser s Business or Organisation/YE AREA BOARD/Interim or Final accounts) PAGE 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Contents Listing (MUST begin with this) Mission Statement Products and Services Summary of Financial Performance Summary of Company performance (Sales and profit; Learning; Team work; Communication etc.) R E M A I N I N G P A G E S M U S T B E O R G A N I S E D I N A L O G I C A L & P R O F E S S I O N A L W A Y & C O V E R A L L A S P E C T S O F T H E C O M P A N Y P E R F O R M A N C E & A C H I E V E M E N T S SUGGESTED TOPICS: STARTING OUT ROLES; RULES; MISSION; PRODUCTS How roles were assigned/co Structure Ground rules for operation (meetings; meeting formats; behaviour; communication) Company Mission, Products & services (decision process; priority; fit with mission; Disposition of profits) Raising Share Capital W H A T S C O M I N G U P S O O N A R E A F I N A L P R E S E N T A T I O N & T R A D E S T A N D Company structure/ Individual skills/tasks TEAM MEMBERSHIP & PERFORMANCE Photos and two short paragraphs (max) on people and duties for each of the company teams: Administration (MDs; Co. Sec.); Finance; IT; Sales and Marketing; Operations; Personnel PRODUCTS & SERVICES Consumer research (Target market; appeal of ideas; attitudes) Products Paragraph descriptions (what; why; Photos) Manufacturing process (Team choice; Skills; Sourcing raw materials; Health and Safety; Quality) Services (What; Why; How; Who; Where) Innovation, special achievements, exporting, trade fairs, business partnerships, networking, press and publicity should be highlighted MARKETING & RESULTS Selling: where; how (Photos of marketing materials/special events) Main sales opportunities/windows Results: Numbers (sales/cash); What worked/ Not worked FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE If FINAL, accounts must be to closure date and show YE VAT & Corporation Tax, Balance sheet, Profit & Loss Report & End of Year Account, which must be signed & verified by the business adviser. If INTERIM accounts must show provision for YE VAT & Corporation Tax, Balance sheet, & Profit & Loss Report to date. which must be signed & verified by the business adviser. You may wish to summarise your overall business experience What went right; What went wrong; Areas for improvement. The NE Hampshire Area Final will be held on 6th March at Pine Ridge Golf Club, Frimley. Each company will be allotted 4 minutes to present their company with the aid of a PowerPoint Presentation. Up to 4 presenters are allowed on the stage plus someone to operate the IT. Guest speakers are invited to entertain whilst the judges decide which company will represent NE Hampshire in the county final. P L A N S F O R L A T E R I N T H E C O M P A N Y Y E A R W I N D I N G U P / C O M P A N Y C L O S U R E Closure means that all financial dealings involving the company are completed. Winding up is the process companies will go through to achieve closure. Winding up may still seem a long way ahead, but this task is made a whole lot easier if companies keep accurate and timely records of all their financial dealings. Please make the effort -START NOW - if you have not already done so!

3 Page 3 S P R I N G T R A D E F A I R P R I N C E S M E A D F A R N B O R O U G H The Spring Trade Fair was held on 7th February. We had a lower attendance this year comprising just 8 companies but representing 5 schools & colleges. Products ranged from mugs to bandanas; candles to original art and watches to Valentines cards. Our thanks go to the management of Princes Mead Centre for providing our YE companies with an opportunity to trade in their attractive shopping mall, and to the judges Jackie Down, David Clifford, Roger Hawkins and Richard Mortimer. The general feedback to companies was: Overall the standard was high well done! Common themes: most students didn t introduce themselves and students need to show more passion about their products and wear them! Specific comments have been ed to each company. Our thanks also go to the advisers, link teachers and parents and especially to the enthusiastic students who took part. We give a warm welcome to Farnborough 6th Form College who rejoined us after a long absence. All the companies had a high standard but the winning company was Green- Box from Farnborough Hill with Conspiracy (Farnborough 6th Form) as the runner up. Well done to all who took part! Right - GreenBox being presented with their award for Best Company by David Clifford. Where the Heart is from Farnborough Hill Vers@style from Court Moor School Inspire from Farnborough Hill Pryde from Yateley School Switch from Salesian College Ace from Yateley School

4 Page 4 S P R I N G T R A D E F A I R M O R E P H O T O S The photo below shows the Trade Fair winners GreenBox (Farnborough Hill) with the judges. Winners GreenBox with their trophy GreenBox trade stand Conspiracy trade stand The photo below shows the Runner Up Conspiracy (Farnborough 6th Form) with the judges. The photo below shows the judges interviewing members of Conspiracy. Horizon from Salesian College

5 Page 5 A S S E S S M E N T O F C O M P A N Y P E R F O R M A N C E The Company Report - Take care to comply with the rules set out on the YE website. See Company of the Year competition under General Guidance. - Make sure all company members take a share in its production. The Trade Stand & Interview - Layout of the trade stand needs special planning: Put someone in charge of organising the details including dress code. - Make sure attendees at the interview speak with a united company view. The Presentation - Again take care to keep to the rules but make best use of visual aids and don t forget a sprinkling of good taste humour. - Take time to practice before a selected audience - there s no other way to get a polished presentation other than to practice a number of times. Please be aware that the time for the presentation is capped at 4 minutes. For each of the above stages the company will be assessed using 10 performance indicators: Innovation & Entrepreneurship - Did the company demonstrate Innovation & Entrepreneurship? Marketing - Did the company carry out market research and act on its findings? Selling & Customer Focus - Is the company customer focused? Do company members convey the qualities of their product & have an enthusiastic approach to promotion via their trade stand & presentation? Product / Service Development - How was the product or service developed and improved? Financial Performance - Has the company made a profit? Are the financial concepts understood? Teamwork & Communications - Did you all work together rather than as individuals? Was there clear leadership? Objective Setting, Planning / Review & Problem Solving - Does the company have a clear view of its mission and objectives? We all have problems, how were they tackled and what was learnt? Skills & Understanding - Did company members demonstrate their understanding of how each business function interacts? Social, Ethical & Environmental - Did the company take a responsible approach to the social, ethical & environmental impact of their business and how is this documented? Company Administration - Did the company produce a business plan & follow it? Did the company members understand & apply business and technical processes? Was IT used appropriately to support company administration? The judges will be looking for evidence of performance in all 10 areas at the 3 stages indicated above. The advice offered is that each company should take a critical review of its performance to date and take the necessary steps to improve deficient areas. You will find the downloadable YE document 015 Judging Criteria Booklet gives thorough coverage of how your company will be judged. We wish you every success in the competition and hope you find the experience a rewarding one! S O M E F I N A L Q U E S T I O N S Who looks after product quality? Do you continuously improve the quality of your product or service? Are your products and manufacturing processes safe? Are there age restriction warnings on toys with small parts? Have you made plans for the rest of the trading year so that you don t get left with unsold stock at the time of liquidation? Is everyone sharing the work or are there passengers? Are you delegating the work in a fair way? This issue has been produced by Bob Cornwell on behalf of the Young Enterprise North-East Hampshire Area Board. Young Enterprise is Incorporated in England as a Company Limited by Guarantee no. 7160, Registered Charity no Registered Office: Young Enterprise, Peterley House, Peterley Road, Oxford OX4 TZ Tel: