On November 26th, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) hosted the Mind Your Own Business (MYOB) Venture Camp 2022. Around 70 young men aged 10 to 14 years (distributed along six early-stage micro-ventures) brought street-smart-attitude and an explosion of energy and drive to the BCG office while building a business plan for their venture. During the day, the groups got thorough support from BCG consultants to set a strategy for their venture, define a roll-out map and prepare a presentation for the ‘BCG expert panel’. The next step for the groups is to work on their business plans before they present their results at the MYOB Business Awards in May.
In this post, we capture reflections from BCG consultants who helped the groups get started on their journey to a successful micro venture. Mads supported the group from Tingbjerg who wants to create a roll-on perfume with a masculine smell under the brand name “Prodigy Fragrances” and has already initiated contact to a perfume factory for a prototype.
“It was very inspiring and fun to be hosting the group from Tingbjerg during the Venture Camp. We spent the day working on structure, business planning and presentation skills, and it was super impressive to see how far they had come when presenting to the panel of judges after only ~8 hours. Really looking forward to seeing their micro-business and confidence develop over the next months.” – Mads Wind, Associate
The young men were full of aspiration, energy, and enthusiasm, and really want to drive their business to something big, but the BCG consultants also taught the groups valuable skills that would give them a huge boost to their self-esteem.
Being a role model to the young men and supporting them with pursuing their ambitions and first steps into the business world were called out by the BCG consultants as the primary reasons for volunteering for the event.
“I wanted to support young men from marginalized neighborhoods on a business idea, and thereby act as a positive role model and give them the feeling that they can all achieve success and spark some ambitions.” – Jacob Larsen, Associate
Jacob hosted a group of 7 young men from Fredericia who want to launch a website called “CheapStock” where consumers can buy cool, local outfits at affordable prices.
Highlights of the day did not only include creating social impact and giving the young men a great start on their first business adventure by planting seeds and building their confidence, but also hearing about the experiences from two young men who founded their company through MYOB several years back.
“They were clearly proud of the maturation process they had gone through as they had consistently taken on more responsibility and overcome challenges. What touched me the most was that, when they decided to leave their business, they donated a big part of their ending profit to charities as they wanted to ’pay back the favor’ that had been given to them through MYOB.” – Kasper Mikkelsen, Consultant
Kasper supported a group of 11 young men aged 13 to 14 years called “Young Eleven” who have discovered a gap in the market for male necklaces in Varde, and now want to design their own style and sell jewellery to teenage guys like themselves. They plan to do this by leveraging social media campaigns with football influencers and keep themselves motivated by always having free Monster Energy in the company fridge.
All the groups brought creative business ideas and an impressive drive to the Venture Camp and had an exciting time bonding with the BCG consultants.
“My personal highlight of the day was after the plenary debrief. Mathilde and I, who supported a group together, took a picture with the group and the Venture Pilot volunteers. To me, this was a testimony to the bond we had established with the young men in such a short amount of time.” – Jacob Larsen, Associate
Overall, it was a memorable and rewarding day full of learnings and fun for both the young men and the BCG consultants.
“I believe I can say on behalf of everyone who participated, that it was truly inspirational to spend a day with these young men; they all have strong stories to share, so much passion and hope for the project, and endless gratitude for being welcomed to our office.” – Maria Jensen, Project Leader and main responsible for the BCG and MYOB collaboration
About MYOB – Since 2012, BCG has contributed to the impressive development of MYOB, an organization that helps young men from marginalized communities start their own micro-business. The organization started as a small side project in the Danish Refugee Council. Today, it is an independent organization supporting and educating several hundred young men each year. If you want to learn more about the program, take a look here or go to the MYOB.dk.
