Entrepreneur groups research

Promote Your Page Too

Ultrapreneur FAQs

I thought you had to be a limited company to trade - is this true?

No. This question was from a teacher in a school that made use of the Young Enterprise Competition, and they form real limited companies. But you can trade by being a sole trader or a partnership without forming a Limited Company. The majority of firms in the UK are sole traders. However this is not something that you need to be concerned with to play.

To compete in the Ultrapreneur Game students have to think of things to offer that will be valuable to other students in the game, in exchange for Ultra-credits.

Why do I have to give a prize?

Strictly speaking you don't. During trials we found that a cash prize was an incentive. It also provides further learning about how currencies can be fixed against a commodity (such as the gold standard). We suggest £100 - £200 pounds, which you could easily find from sponsorship. There are further suggestions about this in the booklet. You could either/also choose to link an assessed reflective assignment with the game which would give the students the opportunity to articulate their discoveries about their enterprising abilities. Again the booklet in the game gives more explanation

Isn't it a bit complicated?

No , like all effective games, its actually very simple and takes a lot of the mystique out of entreprenuership by reducing it to simple principles. Assess the risks against the rewards, get creative - then sell.

Why is it better to have large student groups?

The larger the number of people the more it reflects a real trading environment, where consumers do not know each other, and thus there is less chance of an overall collusion of class members. After all if consumers all collaborated and said, "we are only going to pay 50p for a dozen eggs" there wouldn't be much producers could do about it. That's why we call it the real-life trading game - it simulates the fragmented consumer power, and the associated risks.

It really is a case of the bigger the numbers the better.

So what is the least amount of students I need to play?

We recommend no less than 70 people playing.

How do they market things?

That's up to them, and you must let them struggle for their answers to the problems they encounter, but one obvious place is your modules' virtual learning environment, usually the discussion forum. Some students discover very innovative marketing decisions in this process.

I'm worried in case my students won't really like it

From our trials and customer feedback this isn't the case. In fact in 2008 one lecturer told us that the down side was that her tutorial group were so engaged and interested in discussing the game that it was difficult delivering the content of the course in the time allocated to her (I probably shouldn't tell you that!)

If you have followed our guidelines in the book and you end up being not satisfied - please send the game back and we will give you your money back. All we ask is that you are prepared to tell us why you are unhappy so that we can make improvements. If you are not happy, we are not happy. It's as simple as that.

I already have a comprehensive entrepreneurship programme that I deliver successfully - why should I buy this as well?

That's a good question and we're glad you asked, as there are two compelling reasons. One is that Ultrapreneur does not interfere or take time away from your class contact time. Apart from 5 or 10 minutes when you introduce the game, it runs concurrently with the time of your programme. Ultrapreneur creates a trading environment in your student cohort. Students trade, market and engage in entrepreneurial activity outside of your class time - thus reinforcing the learning that they gain through your teaching.

Another powerful reason is that the game requires creative thinking, which we have found complements the critical thinking present in much academic teaching. Both are required for successful venturing, so the game brings balance.

Great, how can I buy it?

Sponsored Links