Fountain Hills High School business students are being challenged to put their skills to the test with the launch of a brand new competition, partnering teams of students with business mentors to create a business plan from start to finish over the course of five weeks.

In short, business instructor Bob Couture has partnered with Arizona Business Advisors, Brokers Alliance, jumpstartbiz.net and BizMedia in order to create a business plan for a fictional renovation of the local bowling alley.

Long-time Fountain Hills residents likely know that the local alley has been through a number of owners and currently sits closed for business.

For this project, students are being allotted a budget of $150,000 to either revitalize the facility or create something wholly new.

Couture hosted a kick off ceremony for the project on Dec. 11, inviting several of his business partners out to speak with students, explain the guidelines of the project and provide some insight.

Those who spoke included Brokers Alliance Chief Marketing Officer Eric Palmer, and Arizona Business Advisors Partners Lynn Whitman, Mike Tyler and Kjell Andreassen.

The setup for the project is as follows:

“An investor has purchased the building that contains the now defunct bowling alley and is looking for a business idea to utilize the space; he is prepared to invest another $150,000 to get a business up and running and your task is to come up with a business idea to utilize the space and to develop a business plan to make it happen.”

Couture stressed that the project is entirely based on the students’ ideas and can be carried out in any fashion they think appropriate.

They’ll need to create an operating structure, consider revenue streams, sales and marketing, sales channels, market penetration, operations plans and more.

Broken into a five-week process, the first week will be spent developing the basic business idea. Students will make a marketing and sales plan in week two, followed by the development of the operations and “people plan” in week three.

Week four will be spent developing a financial forecast with week five being dedicated to preparing a presentation for their entire plan to be given to a panel of judges.

Each of the high projects teams (totaling seven students and one business advisor each) will then have their presentations evaluated, with student members of the winning team receiving $50 apiece for their efforts.

Like the body of the project itself, the structure of presentations is entirely up to the students, too.

Couture said he is excited for the opportunity this project will afford his students, as it will focus on taking abstract concepts they’ve been learning in class and funnel them into a real-world simulation.

“I expect them to begin to understand the importance of a business plan, how to work as a cohesive team and develop a healthy sense of competition,” Couture said.

“I’m excited about my business students having the opportunity to be mentored by local, successful business people.”

That relationship actually got underway during the project kick-off, with each of the visitors taking a moment to address the students.

“Ask yourself, is this something people are going to buy, and are there enough of those people around here to make money,” Andreassen explained.

Palmer agreed, saying that he was also excited to see these students have the opportunity to work on a real life application of their skills, something that wasn’t available when he was in school.

“Make sure it’s not just a project you’re passionate about; it has to be something people want in this town,” Palmer continued.

“Otherwise, you’ll be really excited creating your own company only to watch it crash and burn.

“Research, know who your competition is, evolve your plan and create something unique.”