Economics/Business: Dragons’ Den with Associate Professor Elaine Darby, Programme Director for the Accounting and Business Degree, Henley Business School, University of Reading

In this fun, interactive Dragons’ Den event, students will engage in evaluating and challenging an entrepreneur’s business plan, applying relevant background knowledge and developing critical thinking skills.

Elaine Darby, Programme Director for the Accounting and Business degree at the Henley Business School, will engage students in a Dragons’ Den style interactive session where they are the Dragons. This is an opportunity to explore a business proposal from the perspective of an investor. Would you fund it, and if not why not?!

Dragons will prepare questions and challenges for Elaine, the entrepreneur, and decide whether or not to invest in the project. Students will get feedback on the quality of their questions and challenges and learn more about successful entrepreneurs.

The session will cover business plans, company funding, cash flow & profitability, business structures and entrepreneurship.

Elaine will also be able to talk to interested students about the Flying Start BA in Accounting and Business, a four-year degree which earns accreditation with the ICAEW and includes invaluable work placements with PwC.

Session Objectives:

• Enhance participants’ understanding of the different elements of a business plan (funding, ownership, marketing, production, logistics, financials, exit strategy)

• Develop participants’ critical thinking skills through their questioning of the information presented to them

Session Outline/Format:

•Welcome, intros, objectives

•Leader gives session outline

•Session leader takes role of entrepreneur & gives a pitch to ‘Dragons’

•Schools prepare questions / challenges

•Schools ask questions & entrepreneur fields questions

•Schools vote yes / no on investing in app

•Session leader feeds back to schools

•Thanks & close

Session Leader Biography: Elaine Darby is an Associate Professor in Accounting who mainly teaches audit, tax and ethics. She is a Chartered Accountant who worked for many years in practice with several Big 4 firms before moving into teaching. Elaine has experience of teaching on professional training courses as well as teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Suitable for: Year 12s studying Economics and/or Business, or with an interest in Accounting, Commerce and Entrepreneurship.

Preparation/Pre-reading: None required, although students might like to watch an episode of BBC 2’s Dragons’ Den to get an idea of the concept if they are unaware of it.

The IT Setup: The setup is similar to Skype, using a pc and webcam, although students take part as a group with the image projected on a whiteboard rather than as individuals in front of lots of pcs. Dedicated videoconferencing equipment is also compatible if available to the school. We will work with your IT department to ensure everything is set up and working prior to the event. The sessions are generally limited to 3 or 4 schools to maintain the interactive nature of the experience.

Booking a Place: If you have a group that you would like to take part in this event, please contact us via email or by using the contact form on the right of this page. We will book your place subject to availability.