AIESEC UK's Regional Entrepreneur Challenge 2009
Activating Student Entrepreneurship Across the UK
Jul 18, 2009
The UK branch of the world's largest student-led leadership development organisation, AIESEC, is giving 20 undergraduate students the chance to test their business skills in a real-world environment this summer with its Regional Entrepreneur Challenge.
20 Student Entrepreneurs, 5 Regions, 1 Goal
At five regional centres operating from London, Southampton, Birmingham, Leeds and Loughborough, students are given the chance to pit their business skills against one another in a unique competitive environment throughout July and August, giving them the chance to develop the skills needed to turn them into the business leaders of tomorrow.
The competition involves one simple principle – sales – in particular, selling AIESEC UK's Access Global Talent initiative, which provides UK companies with top international talent as a part of AIESEC's global exchange programme, which has been in operation since the organisation's inception in 1948. This programme allows students from AIESEC's 107 countries to gain a wide variety of work experiences abroad, with upwards of 5,500 students worldwide having participated in the scheme in 2008 alone.
AIESEC's Global Mandate
AIESEC's charity status also means that while it retains strong global links with companies such as Microsoft, DHL and Alcatel-Lucent, it is also responsible for providing many students with opportunities to make a genuine difference in another society. This is done via participation in education and development schemes in parts of the world where social assistance is most necessary.
This overriding social concern drives AIESEC to develop its members into future leaders who are socially and culturally aware, as well as motivated to further their work experience on a national and an international level. It is this motivation that drives the students participating in the Regional Entrepreneur Challenge as they endeavour to connect with UK companies and facilitate exchange experiences for students looking to participate in UK businesses and charities.
The five regional teams, composed of students from the universities of Birmingham, Aston, Warwick, Leeds, Loughborough, Southampton, Cardiff, Bristol, Strathclyde, Newcastle, City and UCL, are responsible for selling the Access Global Talent initiative to companies in their region, as well as building links with charities in need of an international influence.
Unique Opportunities
An AIESEC placement can last between two and eighteen months, and can lie in fields such as management, education, technology or development work, so it is up to the teams to use their sales skills in a variety of different ways in order to become the top team of entrepreneurs. This first-hand experience of a business environment is key to AIESEC's continued success in developing students into business leaders, and is what sets it apart from any other organisation in operation today.
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