We brought our global Circle the Schools program to Australia earlier this year because providing students with technology and business skills is an essential part of helping them navigate the changes of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Here’s a taste of what one group of students from Hoxton Park High School has been working on, in their own words.

Hear from the Mulchiculture team

To think that a group of Year 10 students could design a business within a week is ridiculous but, thanks to the help of our teacher and Salesforce, we are on our way with our new business idea.

Mulchiculture started out with nine students who were all afraid of the concept of a business. With no knowledge of how to start a business or how to keep it running, we took on the challenge: there was unnecessary amounts of mulch in our school and we had to find a solution to this issue.

We were given approximately three days to plan and present an idea to a panel of judges that included our Deputy Principal, a representative from Liverpool City Council and Derek Laney from Salesforce.

During the three days, we split into two teams, finance and marketing, and focused on our agendas. With the money from the $20 Boss challenge (a competition led by Foundation of Young Australians), we had some start up money to purchase some items for our business as well as design a logo for our business.

“We are excited to see how successful our business can become.”

With mentoring from Stephanie McCredie and Derek Laney from Salesforce, they were able to give us the real-world connection to our school based business. With their help, our business became more of a reality.

The day of the pitch came and the entire team was extremely nervous as most of us have not pitched a business before. We were pleased with our efforts, and received praise for our ability to work together as a team and persevere until the end. Also, we could see the benefits of going through this experience as this was not the traditional learning setting we have been through but a modernised learning environment.

Presently, we are working on selling our first bags of mulch at one of our local primary school events, and hope to sell 10 bags. We are excited to see how successful our business can become and understand that it will take a lot of patience and time to see the profits however, the skills and experience we have gained are irreplaceable.

The Mulchiculture team would love to thank Stephanie and Derek for their time and efforts in mentoring us, and our teacher Miss Ly for organising the program. Without their support, we wouldn’t have been able to design this business or have the opportunity to learn vital skills for our future.

The Mulchiculture team are nine Year 10 students from Hoxton Park High School, who have designed their business from the ground up as part of our Circle the Schools partnership. Find out more about the program.

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