Berufliche Schule Hangelsberg, Germany

The students of Berufliche Schule Hangelsberg introduce us to their Achievers International company, B2BFS.

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.”

This is what Konfuzius said 2,000 years ago and this is what we practice day-by-day in our mini business B2BFS which stands for Business to Business for Students.

Business to Business for Students is based at Berufliche Schule Hangelsberg and was founded in 2004. Our company currently has 17 employees who are all students of a class of Business Assistants. We imports and exports local specialties and sell them on the domestic market.

Katja Klose, Head of Sales, explains the company's products at a sales fair in a shopping centre

B2BFS students sell their products at a fair in Berlin

Our school company is part of the network Achievers International which gives us hands-on experience; it shows us the real business world. Not only do we learn about business, we have the opportunity to develop our language skills through the contacts with our partners, and learn about other cultures. We do market research, write offers and orders, purchase and dispatch the goods, store the imported products, sell them on markets and at fairs, learn about accounting and do online banking.

Our company is structured like a real business and has a management, department heads and co-workers. It also has a board which is formed by our project teachers Mrs Ritter and Mr Radeske.

This year’s C.E.O. is Dennis Witthuhn and his colleague is Maria Pahl is the C.T.O. of B2BFS. They both feel that they have already learned a lot about how to lead people and that structuring the work to be done is a key factor for doing a successful job. This seems to be the right way to go and has already been recognized twice by Achievers. B2BFS is very proud of the fact that they have been awarded the Achievers Crystal Award of Excellence in 2006 and 2007.

Over the years B2BFS has widened its product range. Our top sellers are the Claddagh ring which comes from Ireland and is a symbol of love and quite a good sign for a man of whether a flirt attempt is worth it or not. The other top seller is BluTack – a sticky substance which can be used for putting posters on walls and is a favourite of teachers.

To our foreign partners we sell Hallorenkugeln, a box of chocolates with different flavours. We currently have partners from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Lithuania and Croatia.

Our company has had many meetings with them, .e.g. at the European Business Campuses in 2006, 2007 and 2008, in a project about Celtic roots, at our school Christmas markets which B2BFS organizes every year, at the British Embassy and during business trips to Belfast in 2007 and 2008 to meet their Northern Irish partners and exchange products.

One of our Teachers, Mrs Ritter said “My students gain so much taking part in the Achievers International programme. Not only do they learn about business, they have the opportunity to develop their language skills and learn about cultures overseas.”

B2BFS

We'd like to thanks B2BFS for their excellent work over the last five years. If you'd like to add your school report to the News section, then please contact us.

The Achievers International Team