Yorkshire firm create business game

04/09/2009

A virtual business game developed by a Yorkshire firm will give some of Africa's poorest people an insight into how to run their own company.
York businessman Peter Harrington has already brought the innovative software package to the Kibera slum area of Nairobi, Kenya, as well as to students at 80 British universities including Sheffield, Leeds Metropolitan and York.
Mr Harrington intends to work with a charity to use the software to help the poor.
He believes SimVenture can help people learn from business experience without gambling with their own money. It represents a safe way to bridge the knowledge gap, often expressed in business as: "I wish I knew then what I know now."
The developer referred to SimVenture as "Championship Manager for business", as it uses a concept similar to the football game which allows armchair pundits to manage a football club using transfer and team selection decisions.
"Nothing prepares you for the fact that one million people can live in such appalling conditions. Yet there's a tremendous sense of industriousness and entrepreneurship. If you want to get out of poverty, there's no welfare state so you have got to do it all yourself," said Mr Harrington.
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