Budding Venture Capitalists Pit Their Skills

Budding Venture Capitalists Pit Their Skills

Nearly 1500 high school students throughout New Zealand will try their hand at investing a virtual two million dollars in the next seven weeks.

The web-based Venture Capital Game has attracted 500 teams from 105 schools, all keen to develop a portfolio of businesses with higher net worth than any other team and win the national title.

The Venture Capital Game, developed by the Small Business Company, is funded by Industry New Zealand’s Enterprise Culture and Skills Activities Fund.

Virtual Capital Game coordinator Craig Rust says the game has two aims.

“We want students to experience the thrill of investing and being part of the business world at the same time as putting the enterprise, accounting and economics skills they learn at school into practice.”

Each team has two million dollars to invest. A range of business plans are released to each team for their investment consideration over the duration of the game. By playing the game, the students learn to analyse the business plans, decide what businesses to invest in, and develop investment strategies taking into account external factors and competition.

“The game keeps them on their toes as they’ll be informed regularly, via the website, of occurrences in the external environment which are likely to affect the success of the businesses and alter their respective attractiveness for investment,” Mr Rust says.

Interest has been particularly strong in North Island secondary schools with Wellington College, Kerikeri High School, Kamo High School, New Plymouth Boys High School and Auckland Girls Grammar fielding more than 16 teams per school.

Students in the winning team will take away prizes worth over $5,000 and the teacher associated with that team will receive a Compaq Notebook.

The game also provides the opportunity for students to read about inspiring New Zealand entrepreneurs and how their success was obtained.

The Enterprise Culture and Skills Activities Fund is designed to promote a culture that encourages positive attitudes and skills for entrepreneurship, business growth and business success.

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