Business start-ups - advice for fish fryers

BBC Radio 4 has a 5-part series this week which follows eight budding entrepreneurs on a course in Leeds, specialising in how to run their very own Fish and Chip shop. I caught the first episode yesterday; with each episode only 15 minutes long, it seems like a very good set of programmes for students who are beginning a Business studies course, as it covers a wide range of the issues that they will be learning about.

The series follows a three day course run by the National Federation of Fish Fryers in Leeds. It takes students through the requirements involved in running your own shop - from fish preparation and battering, through health and safety, to the legal and financial issues inherent in the business - as well as the promise that, in episode 3, the students will discover the intricacies of mushy peas! I think it will be particularly valuable to hear the final episode, which goes back to the students six months later, to see how their business plans have fared.

The students come from a wide variety of backgrounds - from the finance industry to a retired musician, from an optician to a newsagent, and they represent a great variety of motivations for starting their own business which is again a great reflection of the BUSS1 syllabus. Two have ventured from France and one from Hamburg, especially to attend the course.

This link will take you to the website, from which you should be able to hear the programmes on i-player; they will be available there for over a year.