The Hope Foundation
In Association With
Start-up Information for Transition Year
Mini-Companies
TY Mini Company Initiative
The Hope Foundation is a Cork-based charity which works with street
children of Kolkata, many of whom are your age, and younger. We need to
raise as much money as possible to improve the lives of thousands of
children who are currently under our care. The more money your school
raises, the more children we can help! Below we have some guidelines,
which we hope will help in the running of your mini-company.
This is a hands-on introduction for you to the world of business and
marketing. By getting involved in the area of fundraising, you will gain
useful experience in setting up and running a small enterprise. This
exercise will provide your mini-company with an opportunity to use your
own experience and judgement in creating an enterprise that is unique to
you. You will be actively involved in the ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of your
enterprise, and will ultimately be responsible for its success.
There are three stages to launching a mini-company or new business idea:
1. Getting the idea
2. Preparing a plan
3. Starting up.
The idea and products have been provided including HOPE hand-made
cards from projects in Kolkata, Butlers Irish Chocolates and Green Saffron
so what you need to do is prepare a plan to sell as much chocolate or
Kolkata Chaap mix as possible and start-up your mini-company. There are
some key attributes that will help in the success of your mini-company.
Students must have, or
develop, the following attributes:
 Belief in the project and mini-company
 Determination to succeed
 Self-confidence
 Persistence & Resourcefulness
To ensure that you have a good mixture of these attributes, it is best that
you form groups rather than attempt this on your own. Experience shows
that small teams work best, but your teams should be organised in such a
way that there are enough individuals to carry out the various tasks
necessary to run a successful enterprise.
How...Who...What...
1) The first job is the allocation of tasks and activities; this should be done
in such a way to make best use of the different talents and skills of each
individual in the team. A good combination of individual talents makes a
successful team, and therefore a successful business. A list of positions
should be circulated within your group, and team members vote on the
nominees. These positions will include Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer
and other relevant positions. You should find out what each job entails
before voting for the person to fill each role. It should not be a popularity
contest, but should be assessed on what you consider to be the person’s best
talent; for instance, if one person is good at maths, they may be a good
candidate for treasurer. Once this process is completed, each team member
will have been delegated his/her specific task.
This allows for
efficient organisation within the group; each member has a role and is aware
of what that role entails.
Each team member should be willing to give the running of the mini-company
their best shot and really want it to work. Due to the fact that all minicompanies and schools are selling the same product, your group needs to
use its imagination to stand out from the others.
2) It is then a good idea for your group to gather relevant information
about the Hope Foundation. This would include researching The Hope
Foundation web sites: www.hopefoundation.ie (Hope Ireland site), and
www.hopechild.org (Hope India Site), and making up a portfolio of information
and pictures to show potential customers. This makes your mini-company
look and feel professional and will teach you about the importance of
marketing your product. It also makes your mini-company an integral part of
the ongoing fund-raising drive for the Hope Foundation.
3) Once the group has been formed, the roles delegated and research
gathered, it is very important that your company identifies who its
customers are. Customers could include:
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School friends
Teachers
Parents
Relations
Neighbours
Local Businesses, etc.
Selling a product like a chocolate bar is quite easy, as it has wide customer
appeal. Therefore, the chocolate could be targeted at practically everyone
you can think of.
4) Next, your team should meet as a group, to bounce ideas off each
other, which will assist in the development of the group dynamic. It is a
good idea to meet regularly and come up with possible new opportunities
with selling potential. Opportunities could include:
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School activities - school plays, fashion shows, parent teacher
meetings, school open day, etc.
Significant Occasions - Christmas, Valentines Day, Mothers Day,
Easter, etc.
Large neighbourhoods.
Hold a HOPE day in your school - your mini-company can sell to
teachers and students in all years.
Local offices and businesses - many offices have no vending
machines.
Local Shops - may sell the chocolate in their shops and collect the
money for you.
Local activities - car boot sales, bring and buy sales, local sports
games, parades, etc.
N.B. Don’t forget to check with your local police station to see if
permits are needed!
It is also necessary to get a broader perspective and ask outsiders for
their opinions – this is very important, as many of these people are
potential customers. Groups must keep their eyes open for gaps in the
market and take advantage of these. Don’t forget to ask for assistance
if you are having problems.
5) It is very important that your mini-company is run along the same
lines as a real business and that everything is recorded. This
ensures a smooth running business. Most importantly, your minicompany should keep accounts and one person should be in charge of
these accounts. This person should take note of every bar or packet
sold and record the money, which should be kept somewhere safe. It is
vital that all products are accounted for, because we must receive the
money for each bar and packet that were sent to your school. The first
collection of money will be before your school finishes up for Christmas.
All the money that has been collected for the bars and packets sold at
that stage must be sent into The Hope Foundation at: Silverdale Grove,
Ballinlough, Cork.
All products not sold by Christmas can be kept and sold when you
return after the holidays. The next collection will be made in February
and
the
final collection in April. You will receive a receipt after each collection
for your records. If all products have been sold at any stage, we will
happily send you more bars and packets if you wish to continue.
6) An effective marketing strategy is essential to the success of your
mini-company. The more efficiently your product is marketed, the more
bars and packets you will sell. As your mini-company has been
provided with the products, marketing is your primary
concern. The strategy you adopt should reflect your groups’ resources
and environment. You should adopt the marketing principles outlined
on the next page to make your product attractive in the eyes of the
consumer, remembering that you will be offering your product to people
of all ages and backgrounds.
The Marketing Mix
One of the most basic concepts of Marketing is the 4 P’s, which stand for
Product, Price, Place, and Promotion
 Product: The instant recognition of Butlers Irish Chocolate by the
public as a quality confectionery product will give your mini-company an
advantage when beginning your marketing strategy. Green Saffron is
also recognised as a local enterprise which is well respected so it can
also be marketed as a local Irish product. You are entering a wellestablished market place and selling a product that has mass
appeal.
 Price: Due to the unique nature of the project, you have the option of
charging a premium price for your product. This is because the
proceeds of all sales go to the Hope Foundation and its fundraising
projects in Calcutta. The customer is getting a quality product, along
with the satisfaction of helping a worthwhile cause. The amount that the
Hope Foundation will collect for each bar is €2, but your mini-company
has the option of charging more than this amount and keeping the
profits. The packets of Kolkata Chaap are sold for €3. The packets of
HOPE hand-made cards come in a pack of two and cost €1.70 and can
be sold at a price designated by you. Do not abuse this however, as
people tend to know if they are being overcharged excessively for
something, and will not believe that they are getting value for money.
 Place: You should examine and decide on the best method of distributing
your product. This can take many forms, including those mentioned on
the previous page. It is up to your group to decide which is best for
you; this will depend on your area and the resources available to you.
 Promotion: Your mini-company should focus on the best way to sell the
product and link this with the Hope Foundation. You can achieve this by
selling the idea that the customer is helping a very worthwhile cause.
The combination of Butler’s and Green Saffron’s reputation and the fact
that all proceeds are going to charity gives your mini-company a readymade promotional strategy. It is up to you to examine the market place
and implement a marketing drive to suit your location.
Implementing Strategy
7) When you have developed a marketing strategy, you need to
implement it. Your group now has the task of running an enterprise on a
day-to-day basis, with all the responsibilities that this entails. Awareness of
your role and the roles of others in the company is crucial to your success.
Your mini-company should meet on a regular basis to hold progress
meetings. At these meetings you should examine your strategy, review
results to date, discuss new marketing ideas and examine how well the
company is being run. Changes should then be made if necessary, making
sure to keep a record of everything.
Remember, YOU determine the success of your enterprise, and you
should take advantage of the resources available to you, e.g. marketing
websites, libraries and the assistance of others, such as teachers, parents
and your peers. It is a good idea to examine various aspects of running a
small enterprise and ask any questions that are relevant to the project
before you start if possible. If successful, your mini-company will have
learned the importance of teamwork, setting goals and achieving them. You
will also have the satisfaction of knowing that you have contributed towards
making a difference in the lives of the children of Kolkata.
Good Luck!
We wish you the best of luck in running your mini-company, and we
hope you will learn a great deal from taking part. As you know, two
representatives from the winning chocolate-selling school will be taken
to Calcutta to bring back first-hand accounts to the rest of the schools
in the country of what their fundraising has done to help the street
children of Calcutta.
Thank you again for all your help and best of luck with your minicompany!
All at the Hope Foundation
Contact us
The
H o p e
F ou n da ti on
Head Office - Ireland:
Silverdale Grove, Ballinlough, Cork
Phone: 021-4292990
Fax: 021-4293432
Email: office@hopefoundation.ie
Web: www.hopefoundation.ie
India Office:
39 Panditya Place, Kolkata 700029, West Bengal, India
Phone: +91-33-24742904
Fax: +91-33-24542007
Email: info@hopechild.org
Web: www.hopechild.org / www.hope-foundation.in