Flowers School of Technology and Management

Setting Up Your Own Business

This course is aimed at individuals who are considering setting up their own business and being self-employed and is designed to highlight the features and challenges of being self-employed so that informed decisions can be made. The unit culminates in a self-assessment of whether setting up your own business is the right career decision for you.

There are many motives for choosing self-employment as a career option and setting up your own business within your own local environment. For some it is simply to earn money, while for others it stems from a wish to follow an exciting destiny to be their own boss. It’s recognised that for others it is a necessity of balancing work and life demands, particularly where the care of dependants, such as children or elderly relatives, is a priority.

However, taking a skill or talent and turning it into a business is not always simple and the decision to do so should not be taken lightly.

In most countries, there are financial and legal obligations that have to be met by the self-employed. These obligations require an understanding of the national, regional and local legislation and regulations. A lack of understanding of these rules, and recognition of the other demands of running your own business, can put financial and emotional strain on individuals and their families.

The unit is aimed at developing a wide range of transferable skills which could be applied in many careers, including for example: childcare, hairdressing, taxi driving, general building, plumbing, electrical installation, beauty therapy, carpentry, cleaning, farming, gardening, truck driving, vehicle maintenance, the arts, website design, computer construction and installation.

Pathways

After completing Level 2 qualification you can progress onto higher level qualifications in business management. ABE’s framework of business management qualifications runs from Level 3, right through to Level 6, enabling you to accumulate the credits needed for a university top-up, or you can enter onto the framework at any point depending on your centre’s professional and academic judgement. Click on the Entry Requirement tab for more details.

ABE offers you a full framework of qualifications that have been designed for you to be able to progress right from Level 2 all the way up to Level 6. Each qualification builds from the one before, taking you from introductory units through to strategic ones.

On completion of the ABE Level 2 Award in Employability Skills you will be able to progress to another qualification in the ABE suite, such as ABE level 3 Certificate in Business Essentials, or use what you have learned to seek employment.

ABE Level 3 Certificate in Business Essentials

Number of Units: 1

Gain an introductory understanding of how businesses are run and develop contemporary workplace skills which will enable you to add value to your organisation or future employer.

ABE Level 4 Foundation in Business Management

Number of Units: 4

A good general grounding in core aspects of business, designed for those who wish to go quickly onto the next ABE Level and into employment. If you wish to progress to a university degree, the eight unit - 120 credit - Diploma provides more favourable progression options.

ABE Level 2 Award in Setting Up Your Own Business

Number of Units: 1

In planning to set up an own business or considering self-employment, this qualification is designed to highlight the features and challenges to inform decisions. The qualification culminates in a self-assessment of whether setting up your own business is the right decision for you. This qualification also aims to develop a range of transferable skills.

Qualification Title

ABE Level 2 Award - Setting Up Your Own Business

Qualification Objective

The objectives of the ABE Level 2 Award in Setting Up Your Own Business are as follows:

To understand the benefits and drawbacks of self-employment based on individual personal circumstances and needs
To demonstrate an awareness of the legal responsibilities of being self-employed in the local environment
To be able to outline the business proposition•
To understand the personal and business monetary needs for a business proposition
To understand the requirements for accurate financial recordkeeping
To demonstrate an awareness of the financial obligations of self-employment in the local environment

Who should enrol?

This qualification is for learners that are 14 and over.

This qualification is aimed at individuals who are considering setting up their own business and being self-employed and is designed to highlight the features and challenges of being self-employed so that informed decisions can be made. The qualification culminates in a self-assessment of whether setting up your own business is the right career decision for you.

Who regulates This Qualification?

The qualification is regulated in the UK by:

ofqual

Entry Guidance and Criteria

There are no formal entry requirements to study an ABE Level 2 Award; however, the admissions office will ensure that you have a reasonable expectation of success on the programme by assessing your previous qualifications and or related work experience. Hence, it is the admissions assessors' responsibility to use their professional and academic judgement when assisting you in making the decision at which level you should enter the ABE programmes.

In order to successfully study for an ABE qualification, you should have an appropriate level of spoken and written English language skills. To ensure success rates are maximised, for all ABE qualifications, we recommend the following standards are met:

IELTS 5.5 | Cambridge ESOL - Preliminary PET or BEC | Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE) 36-41 | Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) B2 | or other English language test equivalent.

Before Qualification Can be Assessed & Awarded

To be awarded the ABE Level 2 Award in Setting Up Your Own Business learners are required to successfully achieve the one mandatory unit. There are no optional pathways as part of this qualification.

Recognition/Accreditation of Prior Learning RPL/APL

If you hold a qualification from either another professional body or university which is similar in content and level to the ABE Level 4, 5 or 6 qualifications, you might qualify for RPL, APL or an exemption from some ABE examinations or units.

Localisation

It is very important when studying for your ABE qualification that you consider your local business environment and try to apply what you are learning to relevant scenarios in your local business context. Doing this will help you to put your learning into practice and use it in your professional day-to-day activities.

A Recent Survey: Bright Future

With ABE qualification, ABE alumni have been leading organisations in the finance, government, healthcare, industry, NGOs, etc., all over the world. Survey responses came from more than 70 countries with over 1,000 different job titles given. Sixty-five percent of the respondents were working in medium or large organisations, 71% who had achieved a higher ABE qualification (eg Level 6) were in a managerial or professional role and 97% stated ABE had been relevant or beneficial to their profession.

Whatever field takes your interest, an ABE qualification will give you the tools to help you achieve your professional ambitions.

Modes of Study

When studying for your ABE qualification, you will learn both with supervision from your tutors in-class and through your own self-study time.

Range of course delivery methods

Classroom delivery (face to face taught time)
Mentoring and coaching from tutors
E-learning via Flowers Online Learning platform
Formative assessment
Live webinars
Assessment support for assignment writing

Suggested reading and resources

We will provide the following learning materials:

A Study Guide in PDF format. This Study Guide is aimed at learners and will expand on the Unit Syllabus, including case studies and examples, activities, and a glossary of terms.
A Recommended Reading List, Online resources.

Assessment

ABE’s assessments are specifically designed to fit the purpose and objective of the qualification. The ABE Level 2 Award in Setting up Your own Business is assessed by anassignment, which is externally set and marked by ABE.

Assignments

Assignments will be set by ABE in the format of an assignment brief. Sometimes a scenario and/or templates maybe provided as well. At Level 2 assignments will have a word count of 1500.

There will be three opportunities a year for assignments to be submitted by learners.

Marking and moderation

ABE has a broad and varied external academic team with a breadth of experience across the qualification areas and levels. Our external assessment is very familiar with ABE students and the format of ABE exams and assignments. ABE has a very robust marking and moderation process:

Assessments are marked and standardised by our external team, after which they go through two phases of moderation. The results are presented to the assessment board for ratification, prior to publishing.

QAA Benchmarking

As well as ensuring that each qualification level offers the appropriate credit values for progression to higher education university programmes, ABE has also aligned the qualifications against sections of the QAA Framework, which applies to all degree-awarding organisations, such as universities, in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

ABE Level 2 Award Setting Up Your Own Business

Award in Setting Up Your Own Business

Pathways

Element #2

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