Students' business plan has weight

IN A refreshing backlash against the size-zero culture, where super-skinny celebrities are hailed as role models, a catchy "Zero Tolerance" campaign has been mounted to combat the pressures to be waif thin and to encourage people to strive for a healthy size.

So where did this finger-on-the-pulse movement start? Perhaps in LA, where the size-zero look has reportedly been encouraged by certain celebrity stylists, or maybe trendsetting New York? Actually it all began in a Dublin classroom - in Loreto Convent, Swords - with five transition-year students brainstorming for a mini-business idea.

The girls looked at issues that most affect them and their peers, and felt strongly that teenagers, particularly young girls, are inundated with inappropriate role models of skeletally skinny women in a trend that is contributing to the increase in eating disorders.

So they developed the idea of promoting awareness of the size-zero phenomenon through the sale of merchandise such as badges and key rings emblazoned with their Zero Tolerance logo. A percentage of profits is donated to the national eating disorder association, Bodywhys, and the association's helpline number is printed on each badge and key ring.

The team's business studies teacher, Caitríona Foley, also works as a guidance counsellor in the school. She says the pressure to be thin is a hugely prevalent issue among students in her own school and elsewhere.

She says that if the campaign had been run by the guidance counselling service, it wouldn't have had the same impact. Peer pressure creates a lot of this problem, she says, so positive peer influence is one of the best ways to combat it. The girls, led by managing director Clare O'Connell, are distributing the merchandise in school, in beauty salons and in certain Tesco outlets.

The next step is to get their slogan patented. "It's certainly gaining a lot of momentum," says Foley, who has been involved with mini companies for several years.

Does this one stand out? "Absolutely," she says. "Their idea is so innovative - there's nothing out there like it. They're in touch with what's going on."

Foley is perhaps most impressed by the fact that this business is about more than just making a profit - it's about affecting people's lives in a positive way.

The creativity and hard work of the team was recently recognised at the Fingal Student Enterprise Awards, where it was awarded the top prize, earning team members (and their teacher) a three-day educational trip to Barcelona.

Oisín Geoghegan, chief executive of Fingal County Enterprise Board, was particularly impressed. "First of all, they have a good idea," he says. "It's a topical idea, it's very attention-grabbing." But crucially, they also had a strong business plan backing up their idea.

Geoghegan, who is also involved with the student enterprise programme at a national level, feels the mini-business competition is a "terrific way of getting people at a very young age to think creatively and entrepreneurially".

"It brings it all to life and they can relate to it. Participating students learn about business in a 'very practical, real sense', rather than just academically. They're learning about how exciting business can be," Geoghegan says.

It can also provide a great boost to their self-confidence, particularly if students aren't academically minded. "Being able to use . . . other skills that wouldn't be reflected in the academic curriculum is very important."

The overarching aim of the student enterprise programme is to foster an entrepreneurial spirit in future generations. "We get involved in second-level schools because we want to encourage and help people at a young age to explore self-employment and enterprise options," he says.

Next month, the entrepreneurial spirit will be in full flow as the cream of the crop from around the State descend on Tullamore to battle it out at the National Student Enterprise Awards.

Whether Zero Tolerance can beat off the competition to scoop the top prize remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: this campaign will continue to spread much further than these young entrepreneurs ever anticipated.

• If you would like to see a particular business topic covered in this column, or wish to have your mini business featured here, please e-mail business2000@irish-times.ie