I awoke this morning and switched on the TV news and was overwhelmed by the promotion of St. Valentine’s Day. It seems like everyone had an opinion on it. Some thought it a good thing, a celebration of love and happiness, whilst others thought it was a commercialised irrelevance – the sole purpose of it being to shame and guilt people into spending money unnecessarily.
I don’t have a strong opinion on the subject, but it struck me that it was especially relevant on Valentine’s Day because today we launch Challenge Two of FBM 2022 which is all about coming up with new business ideas – and there are certainly lots of Valentine related businesses promoting their ideas now.
Challenge Two is all about coming up with a great business idea. In the videos that we have posted on the portal today, you can find some great information that will help your team develop their world-beating business idea for 2020’s FBM Competition.
Rachel Bickerdike, from Durham University, shares some of the secret’s entrepreneurs use to generate ideas for their businesses. I’m sure you will find these techniques useful in your teams’ sessions. We’ve also included two films we made with Simon Woolley from Beamish Open-Air Museum. Simon is an expert in the history and development of industry, and in these two short films, he introduces you to the story of George Stephenson inventor, entrepreneur, and pioneer of the railways. I’m sure that Georges story will inspire your teams to come up with their own brilliant idea!
I know you are still working on Challenge One and we are all keen to hear the interesting ways your team has started to meld – remember we want to hear the voices of the team reflecting on their experiences in their own words!
Good luck with challenge 2!
Remember you can contact us in the FBM Team, and we will be happy to help you as the competition progresses. Hilary and I are also available to join your team meetings and talk about your progress and ideas – you can contact us at [email protected]