Playing the long game

For an industry that is so important to everyone’s daily lives ~ let alone UK plc in or out of the EU ~ the fact is that the industry operates so much under the radar that the sector is invisible to most people.

Add a public profile of logistics being too often about diesel trucks and depots and it’s easy to understand why so many misconceptions exist.

As former teachers we challenge the industry to help us help you change the face of logistics sector recruitment.

Let’s build interest in the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of supply chains from an early age, arouse the curiosity of young people and challenging their preconceptions of the industry.

How?

Our fun educational board game Business on the Move excites and inspires 9 to 19 year olds about business and global supply chains. Engaging with young people from an early age is a pre-requisite for improving the understanding of the logistics sector and providing a positive foundation for developing the talent pipeline that will reduce future recruitment costs.

Furthermore, Business on the Move is not just a board game.

Accompanied by some fifty classroom activities co-written with our sponsors such as the CHEP, Marks & Spencer, the TT Club and XPO Logistics, the game can be followed up by subject-related exercises that connect the organisations featured in the playing of the game with the reality of their contribution to supply chains.

It soon becomes clear how diverse the sector is and the career opportunities are for male and female students alike. In short, Business on the Move is a platform for learning.

Indeed, so popular has the game become since launch in the summer of 2014, it has grown beyond our wildest dreams:

• Business on the Move is not just in hundreds of UK schools, it’s now in nearly 80 universities from Huddersfield to Hong Kong.
• The game has been purchased by countries all over the world, including Brazil and the USA despite the fact that the Americas do not even appear on the first edition’s game board!
• Business on the Move has also been used as part of company training programmes in Ceva Logistics, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer.

Our second production run, twice the size of our first one, will therefore not be UK-centric but rather a brand new Global edition of Business on the Move, featuring global businesses across the world.

To make a reality of this vision we invite organisations involved in global supply chains from big brand names to retailers and logistics providers  to sponsor and actively feature in our new Global edition.

Sponsors’ branding will be actively incorporated into the new Global game, conservatively projected to be played by the some 200,000 (young) people over the 5 years, 2017-21, 

We invite you to join CHEP, DP World, MSC, Ceva Logistics, Century Logistics, DHL, Multimodal 2017, the TT Club, Unipart, Worldwide Chain Stores and XPO Logistics.

Kathryn Wightman-Beaven, Director, Global Sustainability, DP World, explains:

“We see this as a fantastic opportunity to support and promote the importance of the global supply chain to the future workforce. Business on the Move is a great way to excite and inspire young people about career opportunities in the logistics and supply chain sector, as well as business as a whole. We’re delighted to be involved!”

 Sponsorship starts from as little as £2000 and costs can be spread over two consecutive financial years, 2016-17 and 2017-18.

More details can be found on the Global page of our website www.businessonthemove.org

And/or contact Patricia Smedley at pat@businessonthemove.orgto explore possibilities.