Getting Down to Business! Training in Small Business Skills in Papua New Guinea Student Activities Click on either of these two links for further information: Case Study   Teacher's Notes On a map of Papua New Guinea, locate the four areas where training in small business is taking place in the country. What are the physical similarities and differences between the areas? Make a list of how the location where people live might influence the types of small business opportunities? (e.g. coastal areas offer opportunities for establishing businesses associated with fishing). Develop a colourful poster to advertise the training workshops in local communities in Papua New Guinea. Use magazines to create a montage of possible small businesses. Include the essential information a person needs to consider attendance at the training. Locate copies of your local community newspaper. Use the advertisement section to develop a database on small business in your area on the types, numbers and services of small businesses in your area. What other sources would you consult? Select one of the following small businesses which could be possibly established in a rural town in Papua New Guinea: hairdressing salon, small bakery, ice-cream parlour, dress-making/tailors, vegetable and fruit shop, furniture making shop, house-painting service, electrical repairs, soap-making, chicken-raising etc. List the possible services or elements that you would like to be part of that business to make it more attractive than competitors in the same business. Create and develop a leaflet to distribute in the town to encourage customers to use your business. Small businesses can begin from small initiatives. As a class develop a Market Day in which pairs or groups within the class set up a stall to sell a product you have made yourselves or a service you can deliver. At the end of the exercise, define the skills, knowledge and attitudes needed to have to run a successful stall. In pairs, interview someone in your local community who runs their own small business. Find out the following information from them: Why did they start their own business? What advice/tips would they give to anyone establishing a small business? What factors do they think make or break a small business? In their opinion, how could state and federal governments encourage the small business sector? What would be the advantages for training workshop participants in Papua New Guinea if they undertook this exercise in their local area? Use your previous research to design and develop an information sheet that could be used in the SYB/IYB workshops called 'Tips For Starting Your Own Business'. With permission, display these in your local shopping mall or Chamber of Commerce. In small groups, create and develop a role-play of one of the training sessions in Papua New Guinea. Focus the role-play on the Developing a Business Idea workshop. Members of the workshop put forward ideas for the types of businesses that are possible for them to develop and the other participants discuss the advantages and disadvantages of developing such a business. Use the 10 Steps outlined in the Papua New Guinea Training Program to develop a flow chart of important questions a participant needs to ask at each step of the program. Brainstorm some of the most cost effective ways a small-business person can advertise and promote their business. Which ideas might work best in rural Papua New Guinea? Why?   Top © Commonwealth of Australia