In March, our instructor guided us through 4 insightful sessions of brainstorming and idea-sharing. These sessions fostered a multitude of innovative ideas through inter-group exchanges, group discussions and mini-presentations. The process was highly engaging, weaving in interesting elements such as board games and graphic illustrations to make the experience enjoyable.

On March 6 (Week 6 Lesson 1), we exchanged ideas by drawing random questions from a board game. This activity highlighted several unresolved details, such as our strategies for generating continuous cash flow, managing our social enterprise and addressing potential challenges. This insight prompted us to delve deeper into overlooked aspects of our proposal.

On March 13 (Week 7 Lesson 1), we were asked to draw a whole picture of our plan using graphics. Post sharing, we understood that our ambitions were too broad - we desired to achieve too much and proposed many solutions. However, we faced a bottleneck when trying to develop an approach that would both profit us and align with the mission of our chosen social enterprise. That led us to make a tough decision to switch to a social enterprise to work on. Despite also being a restaurant, Viet Street’s mission differs from our original choice, necessitating a revision of our solution and target audience.

On March 20 (Week 8 Lesson 1), we had to highlight some important numbers. At that moment, we were still unsure about some details of our new proposal. For example, some figures related to financials were just rough estimations. It alerted us to do further research and analysis to substantiate our estimations.

On March 27 (Week 9 Lesson 1), it was the time to present the whole plan with visual aids. In spite of the change in our social enterprise and lack of fully developed ideas, we shared our current work to solicit feedback in class. Meanwhile, listening to other groups present their business plans helped guide the structure and organization of our own. We also understood the difference in effectiveness when presenting with or without sufficient visual aids.

In our final idea-sharing session, our instructor offered valuable feedback that would guide our progress moving forward. Our instructor emphasized the importance of providing more robust justifications for our business strategy. This includes demonstrating a substantial market demand for our services, ensuring our pricing aligns with industry standards and falls within a profitable range, and that our projected costs and use of funds are reasonable. By strengthening these areas, we can present a more compelling case to potential investors, thereby increasing the likelihood of getting the funding for our project.

When considering partnerships and collaborations, we should conduct a more thorough feasibility analysis of potential partners. This includes assessing the need for partnerships, their potential benefits, and the impact they could have on our project. Engaging in partnerships without a clear understanding of these aspects could lead to hasty decisions and potentially decrease the efficiency of our project. Therefore, careful partner selection is vital to our project’s success.

Lastly, our instructor reminded us of the power of visual aids in enhancing our presentation. Utilizing tools such as charts and graphics can not only make the presentation more visually appealing but also capture and maintain the audience’s attention. Moreover, clear and concise slides enable the audience to grasp key points quickly and understand the overall picture more readily. This feedback underscored the importance of delivering a visually engaging and succinct presentation in effectively communicating our business plan.