Erol Suesler, who works at Deloitte, teaches business skills using examples students can understand.
Erol Suesler, who works at Deloitte, teaches business skills using examples students can understand.

Boys put shirts on the line



Schoolboys tend to know a lot about football and little about business. At the Mohammed Bin Rashid Model School for Boys in Dubai, they know something about both.

The students say football success comes down to a club's return on investment. If a club invests heavily in the biggest stars, people will support it and buy its merchandise.

Erol Suesler, 28, who works in the mergers and acquisitions advisory at Deloitte, volunteers once a week to teach the students about business and how to run a company. Mr Suesler tries to use business parallels to which the youngsters can relate, such as football.

He contributes his time as part of a programme run by Injaz, a non-profit organisation which aims to give youngsters practical skills to prepare them for the workplace.

Started in 2006, Injaz works across the Middle East and is seeking volunteers from the UAE. A high value is placed on nurturing and teaching entrepreneurship, with communications, financial literacy and citizenship all top of the agenda.

The students in Mr Suesler's class are launching their own company and will enter a competition to be judged on their idea, business plan, sales and initiative.

"At first we were frantic," says Ali Jamal, the designated chief executive of Under Ground, the class's T-shirt company. "But we then began to learn a lot and now anticipate what will be in the class days before."

The 11 students are at the sales and marketing stage of their business. The T-shirt logos have been designed, a price has been set and the T-shirts and marketing fliers are to be printed this weekend.

Under Ground will begin by selling to fellow students, then try to expand outside the school.

The company "went public" a few weeks ago, with stock sold to students' families and friends to raise cash. If the business succeeds, a dividend will be paid to these shareholders.

For each step of the students' business plan, Mr Suesler uses an example from a real company to teach a concept.

When discussing whether credit should be extended to children at the school who want to buy the T-shirts, he likens the process to buying a car with a deposit up-front and paying for the rest over time.

Mr Suesler uses the high-end designer Gucci to explain the profit margin on each T-shirt, even though the students' business model is more for the type of garment bought at Carrefour.

The less interesting workings of a business are also covered.

"We need to make a financial document that shows how much we sold and what was the cost. It's going to be called an annual report," Mr Suesler said.

Not a single word is drawn on the whiteboard. The class is like a board meeting, only with slouched and mumbling executives.

Injaz is a member of Junior Achievement Worldwide, the world's largest non-profit business education organisation, and prepares students for an increasingly competitive job market in the Middle East.

Unemployment is rife among young people in the region, and 100 million students are estimated to join the Arab world's labour market over the next 10 years.

Five of the students in the class had expressed a desire to work in the business world. Injaz hopes these classes will help them on their way.

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

Du Football Champions

The fourth season of du Football Champions was launched at Gitex on Wednesday alongside the Middle East’s first sports-tech scouting platform.“du Talents”, which enables aspiring footballers to upload their profiles and highlights reels and communicate directly with coaches, is designed to extend the reach of the programme, which has already attracted more than 21,500 players in its first three years.

BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES

Friday (UAE kick-off times)

Cologne v Hoffenheim (11.30pm)

Saturday

Hertha Berlin v RB Leipzig (6.30pm)

Schalke v Fortuna Dusseldof (6.30pm)

Mainz v Union Berlin (6.30pm)

Paderborn v Augsburg (6.30pm)

Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund (9.30pm)

Sunday

Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen (4.30pm)

Wolfsburg v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)

SC Freiburg v Eintracht Frankfurt (9on)

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

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