19 - 21 June: London: Jay, Tyrone, Rubena, Yasmin, Madni, Victoria, Mohammed, Carlie, Sarah and Edmond, all aged 16 to 20, took part in Salesforce Foundation EMEA's first ever BizAcademy in London. The ten young people are all training in business administration and customer service at Landmark Training in Stratford, east London.
BizAcademy EMEA is a three-day course aimed at giving the youth participants some basic transferable skills for the business world and the inspiration and confidence to move forward on whatever path they choose. Days one and two cover business and the sales cycle, day three is on how to sell themselves to an employer. A key part of BizAcademy is to expose the young people to a real business environment and the people who work there.
The course was kicked-off by Salesforce EMEA President Dr.Steve Garnett, and taught by Salesforce staff and executives, Martin Moran, Peter Grant, Simon Corley, Jane Pointet, Gill Payne, Mike Stamp and Mark Ottaway.
BizAcademy was hosted in the Millbank Tower offices of LEWIS PR in central London - the view from their 22nd floor windows was just one of the highlights for the young people! Chris Lewis, LEWIS PR's Grand Enchilada, ran a fabulous presentations skills session, and other LEWIS staff and executives including Carol-Ann White, Jon Silk and Polly Sabin provided their time and expertise to the course.The young people loved the session from inspirational business guru Rene Carayol during which he encouraged them to be the best that they can, and make the most of opportunities such as BizAcademy.
Our teacher in residence Shirley Gaynor, a Teach First teacher, ensured that the educational content was perfectly structured and inspiring.
The young people learned the art of selling and presenting, both a product and themselves, from the experts. They practised their business and personal elevator pitches in the elevators on unsuspecting workers in Millbank Tower.
Having formed two companies, YES! and Inspired Minds, the young people competed to sell themselves to a Board of Directors, with the chance of winning a Pot of Gold (worth £250) along with other cash prizes. Madni won the Learner of the Week prize Victoria won a lift home in Peter Grant's new red Ferrari!
Finally, Martin made a call to his sister Margaret Moran, MP for Luton South, who presented the Certificates and prizes in Portcullis House, and then arranged a tour of the Houses of Parliament.
The wrap-up dinner took place at the Royal Horticultural Halls where Tyrone did a fantastic rap about Salesforce!
Follow-up to the course will include internship placements, further presentation skills training, CV and recruitment training, a full tour of the Houses of Parliament, a day learning the Salesforce.com product and each young person has been teamed with a mentor for the next few weeks.
Salesforce Foundation would like to thank Landmark Training, (particularly Emma, Denise and Emma), for being such a fabulous partner and for working so hard to ensure that the young people were well-prepared to make the best of BizAcademy.