Businesses and Economics for Students and Teachers: Student Worksheet 6

Business in context

When Sofia Akram was made redundant from her job at a local garage, she decided to use her redundancy money to realize her dream and open a small hotel near the sea.

She found a large house that would suit her needs for sale in a village near the coast, although her redundancy money would only pay the deposit she needed. Still, there was enough accommodation for her to live in the house as well as let four bedrooms. If she sold her own house and took out a mortgage on the new one, she should have enough – with a little left over to help her through the first few months.

‘It’s exciting’, Sofia told her sister Tina. ‘It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I’ll be my own boss and rise or fall on my own efforts. All the profits will be mine; they will not go to the head office of a big company. I’ll advertise and I think it will be a success.’

Tina was not so sure. ’But you’ll be on your own,’ she said. ‘Think of the long hours you’ll have to put in. it’s not just cooking breakfasts and making beds. You’ll be on call all the time. You’ll have to do the books, take stock, place orders and things like that. You’ve never run a business yourself before. What about the accounts and paperwork? You may not find that as much fun as serving breakfasts and chatting with your guest – but you’ve got to do it, because there won’t be anyone else to do it for you. And what will you do if it all goes wrong? What if you have a poor year and you don’t get as many booking as you hope for? You could lose everything – not just the business, but your home and livelihood as well.’

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