Running a Business
Senior 3 · English
Running a Business
Lesson 4 of 5
25 min
Let's begin
A good description lets a reader walk through a place without ever going there. In this lesson you read a description of a business centre, see how it is organised, and then write your own. You finish with the unit project: a short business pitch for an enterprise that makes money honestly.
The centre is imagined; the description is 246 words long, without its title.
Isangano Business Centre
Isangano Business Centre stands at the busiest corner of our town, opposite the bus park and next to the district hospital. It was opened four years ago by a group of local traders, and it is now visited by hundreds of shoppers every day.
The centre is a three-storey building with a wide glass entrance. On the ground floor, a small supermarket, a pharmacy and a mobile-money agent are found side by side. The supermarket is always the busiest: bread, rice and soap are carried out in baskets from seven in the morning until nine at night.
A wide staircase leads to the first floor, where the noise of sewing machines greets you. Here, school uniforms are made to measure by four tailors, phones are repaired at a narrow counter, and documents are printed and photocopied in a stationery shop that smells of fresh paper.
The second floor is quieter. It is occupied by the offices of an accountant and an insurance agent, and by a training room that is hired out for meetings and workshops. From its windows, the whole town can be seen.
Behind the building there is a car park, which is guarded day and night, and a row of motorcycle taxis waits at the gate.
Isangano is not the largest centre in the province, but it is clean, safe and well organised. For many families it has become the place where almost everything can be bought, mended or printed under one roof.
The writer moves through the building the way a visitor would: from outside, up the stairs, and round to the back.
| Paragraph | Job | Language to notice |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | introduction: what, where, when, how popular | opposite, next to; was opened … by; is visited by |
| 2–4 | the building, floor by floor, with one detail for the senses in each | on the ground floor; leads to; where …; are made, are repaired, is occupied; the noise of sewing machines, smells of fresh paper |
| 5 | the outside: parking and transport | behind; which is guarded |
| 6 | a judgement: what the place means to people | not the largest … but; can be bought, mended or printed |
Definition
business centre: a building or group of buildings where many shops, offices and services are rented out under one management, so that customers can find them in one place.
storey (n): one level of a building. A three-storey building has a ground floor, a first floor and a second floor in British English.
spatial order: describing a place in the order in which a person would move through it or see it, for example from bottom to top or from outside to inside.
Worked example
Turning a list into a description
Notes: first floor: tailors, phone repairs, printing shop.
A list of three shops has become one sentence that a reader can see, hear and smell.
Warning
Describe a business centre, market or shopping street that you know, or one you imagine, in 200 to 250 words. Plan a quick sketch first, as in the diagram above.
Checklist
In groups of four, invent a small business that your school community could run and that earns money honestly. Then pitch it to the class in two minutes, as if the class were investors or the school's management.
A model pitch (132 words; the business is imagined):
"Every week, our school throws away about two sacks of plastic bottles, and every week pens and chalk roll off our desks and disappear. Our business, Isuku Crafts, joins those two problems together. We collect the bottles, wash them and turn them into pencil holders and small flowerpots, which are decorated by our members and sold at the school canteen for 300 francs each. One item costs us 120 francs in paint and glue, so each sale makes a profit of 180 francs. Every member is paid the same rate for every hour worked, and every price is written clearly on the item. Nothing is burned, and nothing is thrown into the drains. We are asking the school for one table in the canteen every Friday. Help us turn waste into work."
| Part of the pitch | In the model |
|---|---|
| Hook: a problem the audience recognises | sacks of bottles thrown away; pens and chalk that disappear |
| The product or service | pencil holders and flowerpots made from washed bottles |
| Customers and price | sold at the canteen for 300 francs each |
| Costs and profit | 120 francs of paint and glue; 180 francs profit per item |
| What makes it ethical | equal pay per hour, clear prices, no burning, no dumping |
| The ask: what you want from the audience | one table in the canteen every Friday |
Assessment. The class gives each pitch up to 3 points for each line:
| Criterion | 3 points |
|---|---|
| Clear problem and product | The audience can say in one sentence what is sold and why it is needed. |
| Numbers that add up | The price, the cost and the profit per item are given and are correct. |
| Ethics | The pitch says how customers, workers and the environment are treated fairly. |
| Delivery | Every member speaks; voices fall firmly on facts and rise on real questions; it ends within two minutes. |
Definition
ethical (adj): morally right; following rules of honesty and fairness. An ethical enterprise makes a profit without cheating customers, exploiting workers or harming the environment.
pitch (n): a short, persuasive talk that presents a business idea to people who might support it.
Tip
Numbers persuade, but only if they add up. Before you pitch, check every figure with a calculator: price − cost = profit per item. An investor who finds one wrong number stops trusting the rest.
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa.
