💡 The Plan Your Own Enterprise (PYOE) competition, proudly supported by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, offers secondary school students from across Australia a hands-on experience in small business planning and entrepreneurship, encouraging them to develop a comprehensive and innovative business plan while learning critical skills in financial literacy, marketing, and strategic thinking.
🎉 We are pleased to share you the 2024 winners from the National PYOE Judging:
🏆 Division 1 (Individual) Winner – Tony Chen, James Ruse Agricultural High School, NSW for 'Laennec' a business with the aim to revolutionise cardiac diagnostics by making advanced stethoscope technology affordable and accessible. The prize for Tony for winning is $1,500!
🏆 Division 2 (Group) Winner - Chloe Wong, Tiya Somaia, Pardis Shahverdi and Rui Mandrawa, Camberwell Girls Grammar School, VIC for 'Quizoo' a business providing an innovative study app designed to boost student productivity by limiting distractions and using engaging incentives. For winning the group has won $1,000 to share!
🙌 We would like to congratulate all entrants who made it to National Judging on the business plans submitted for each division.
👍 The judges were impressed with the vision, innovative ideas, understanding of complex business concepts and excellent communication skills demonstrated in each of the plans.
Top Tips for a Winning PYOE Business Plan
Want to create a standout business plan for the Plan Your Own Enterprise (PYOE) competition? Follow these key insights from the 2024 National judges:
✅ Keep It Simple & Realistic – Choose a clear, achievable business idea that aligns with your financial projections and market research. Don’t make it too complex!
✅ Strong Branding & Business Name – Pick a memorable name, check availability (ASIC search), and create a compelling logo and tagline.
✅ Clear Business Model & Operations – Outline how your business will generate revenue, including production, supply chain, and distribution plans.
✅ Smart Marketing Strategy – Define your target market, analyse competitors, and detail how you’ll promote your business. If relying on partnerships, explain how you’ll secure them.
✅ Solid Financial Planning – Be realistic with your start-up costs, sales forecasts, and cash flow projections. Clearly explain where your money is coming from and how you’ll spend it.
Most businesses don’t make a profit straight away! It’s normal to have more expenses than income at the start—so plan how you’ll cover costs until sales pick up.
✅ Future Growth Potential – Show how your business could expand, such as introducing new products, partnerships, technology advancements, or scaling operations.
✅ Concise & Well-Structured Plan – Stick to word limits, include key details in the main body, and use appendices for supporting data.
By following these tips, you’ll create a strong, well-structured, and competitive business plan. 🚀
ABOUT THE 2024 PYOE COMPETITION
Why should students enter the Competition?
Business and Financial Planning enables students to see the interconnectedness in business operations allowing them to have an in-depth understanding of business functions. Introducing the Competition as part of your teaching and assessment, or as a co-curricular challenge, will provide a real-world context for student learning in a school setting.
In addition, the Competition promotes the following skills:
- Organisation and planning
- Decision making
- Research and communication
- Prioritising and collaborating
- Enterprise & critical thinking
- Reflection and action
- Creativity and innovation
Competition Divisions
The competition is open to all full-time secondary school students enrolled in a registered secondary school in Australia at the time of submission of their entry. There are two divisions of the Competition:
DIVISION ONE – Individual entries
Open to individual students of any age, attending a registered secondary school in Australia.
DIVISION TWO – Group entries
Groups of up to six students can submit an entry. They can be of any age and must attend a registered secondary school in Australia.
Judging
Judging will be based on the paper entry and will be conducted in late October. Winners will be advised early November.
Competition Prizes
DIVISION ONE: Individual entry – winning student
$1,500 cheque courtesy of Business Educators Australasia
Individual entry – school of winning student
Complimentary school membership to Victorian Commercial Teachers Association (VCTA)
$200 books courtesy of Business Educators Australasia
DIVISION TWO: Group entry – winning group
$1,000 cheque courtesy of Business Educators Australasia for the group.
Group entry – school of winning group
Complimentary registration for a teacher to VCTA’s Comview Conference 2024 courtesy of VCTA.
Note: State/territory prizes may also be available. Contact your state/territory association for this information (contact details are listed on the back of this application form).
Entries must be submitted to state/territory associations by close of business Friday 13 September 2024 (see contact details on the last page of the application form).
2024 PYOE Application form can be downloaded HERE.
Business Educators Australasia and its affiliate associations reserve the right not to make awards at state/territory or National level if it is not considered entries are of a suitable standard. Business Educators Australasia also reserves the right to alter the final judging date.