GEN 3015 / GE 102 Innovation and Entrepreneurship

SPRING 2023

Assignment 3 - Individual Personal Business Plan

Accounts for 30% of the total course mark.

Learning Outcomes 5 and 6:

Students will learn how to differentiate between an idea and a viable opportunity.
Students will understand the value of design thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship in supporting their
own career development and paths.

Task:

This is an individual task. You need to submit 1500-2000 words Individual Business Plan (IBP) via Turnitin no later
than 5 MAY 2023, 23:59 h. Use a professional report structure and use bullet points in writing your plan.
Your IBP needs to cover the sections presented below. Address them in the IBP in the same order. Do not write an
essay.

Plagiarism over 20% will result in disciplinary action. Only one submission will be allowed.

Vision & Opportunity

• Identify your career or educational goals for the next 3 years? Identify at least 3 goals.
• identify your career and personal goals for the 3 years after you graduate from university.
Identify at least 3 goals.
• Identify your 3 key values or guiding principles? Which is the most important one and why?
• What motivates you? Identify at least 3 factors that motivate you.
• What activities do you enjoy doing most i.e your passions or hobbies? Identify at least 1.
• A career in which industry, or sector, do you think best fits your career goals? Identify at least
1 and explain why.

Marketing Strategy

• What are your strongest skills or competencies? Identify at least 3.

• Which skills do you need to improve or develop? Identify at least 3.
• What values or benefits will you offer to a future employer? Identify at least 3.
• What values or benefits will you offer to your society? Identify at least 2.
• How will you differentiate yourself from other students? Identify at least 3 differentiating factors.
• Summarise yourself in 6 adjectives – i.e your personal brand positioning.
• What is your personal 3-word positioning mantra?
Risks & Mitigation

• What factors might negatively impact on you achieving success? Identify at least 3 factors
• What factors might positively impact on you achieving success? Identify at least 3 factors.
• If you could not secure a job in your first–choice industry or sector, what would be your second
choice; and why?
• What 2 questions would you least want to be asked in an interview? What would your answers be?
• What 2 questions would you ask when being interviewed by a company for a job?

Advisors/Mentors & Lessons Learned

• If you could have any 3 people to advise or mentor you, who would you choose? They can be family,
business leaders, friends, peers or teachers/lecturers. Explain why you would choose each one.
• Describe at least one failure or mistake from your past. Describe what you learned from it in terms of
Improving your potential and performance for the future.
• Which parts of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship course do you think you might find most useful in your
future career? Identify at least 2 parts and explain why.

Marking Criteria

Criteria Excellent Good Poor

Introduction Completely focused on
the topic; includes
definitions and/or
explanations to introduce
the topic properly;
contains correct numbers
to describe the
magnitude of the
problem.
Scientific content Information is gathered
from appropriate and
diverse sources; the
report addresses with in-
depth analysis all the
points referred to in the
guidelines.
Recommendations The recommendations
are valuable, show
comprehensive
understanding, and are
supported by evidence
from the report.
Focused on the topic, but The topic is not properly
without definitions or introduced; there are no
explanations; contains definitions or numbers to
numbers that fail to explain the problem
describe the magnitude
of the problem properly,
are not relevant or are
incorrect.
Information is gathered Information is gathered
from related but limited from limited sources; the
sources; the report report poorly addresses
addresses with in-depth the issues referred to in
analysis most of the the guidelines, or more
points referred to in the than 30% of the
guidelines, or the report questions are left
addresses all issues but unanswered.
without proper analysis.
The recommendations The recommendations
are logical and supported are related to the topic
by some evidence from but unsupported by
the report but lack evidence from the report,
actual/practical value. or are not related to the
topic, or are missing.

Conclusions The conclusion includes The conclusion evaluates The conclusion fails to
sufficient evaluation for some of the key points evaluate any of the key
all key points described in described in the analysis. points described in the
the analysis. analysis; or is missing.
Organization and The report is well
structure organized and clear. It
adheres to the described
format.
Communication The report is well written
from start to finish,
without spelling, linguistic
and grammar errors.
References Almost all the references
are correctly cited (>90%)
and correctly listed in the
reference list according to
Harvard referencing style.
/5 marks
The report is for the most
part well organized and
clear. It adheres for the
most part to the
described format
The report is well written
for the most part, with
minimal spelling, linguistic
and grammar errors.
Most of the references
(70-90%) are correctly
cited and correctly listed
in the reference list
according to Harvard
referencing style.
The report is badly
organized and lacks
clarity.
It doesn't adhere to the
described format.
The report is not well
written, and contains
many spelling, linguistic
and grammar errors.
References are not
correctly cited and/or
correctly listed in the
reference list according to
Harvard referencing style.
/5 marks
/5 marks
PRESENTATION

• Introduction and context – the speaker set the

scene well with a clearly outlined focus and
aims of the presentation and why it matters.
• Quality of research and narrative /5 marks
• Impact of the presentation – the story is /20 marks
logical, coherent and engages the audience
and the presentation; the presentation is
creative
• Q&A session: questions from the audience /15 marks
were handled well.
/10 marks

Total: /50 marks