> NEVER TOO YOUNG

Andrew Butt, 20, is managing director of Enable Software, a company with an annual turnover of £1 million. He has 16 employees, flies a helicopter, owns two homes and a Mercedes, and travels the world.

The company that Andrew founded three years ago with his partner, Denys Shortt, helps businesses to manage and develop web sites, intranet and other areas. The idea was simple. "So much technology, including business software, seemed to have been designed by people showing off their technical skills rather than making it as easy as possible to use," says Andrew. "I decided to create software that even the most technophobic company director could use."

He aimed to ensure that if a director wanted to change something on his website or add a new piece of information to his intranet, he could do so without calling inexpensive IT people. Companies loved it. In a year, Enable has sold more than £1 million of software.

Andrew had a fascination for computers from an early age and spent every evening after school at his PC. At 12, he got his first taste of working with computers in the real world when his father, an accountant, allowed him to help out at a local helicopter company near his home in Coventry. "Almost as soon as I got there, I noticed that all their filing was done by hand. It seemed so inefficient that I decided to transfer everything on to a computer for them."

Impressed with his intiative, the firm owners allowed him to work in other areas. Soon he was inventing new ways of marketing the business and helping out with the accounts. At 14, he set up a one-man business selling computer hardware and solving computer problems. "I had learnt much by then and had a captive market in the people I had met at the helicopter company" he says.

The business cost nothing to setup and turnover hit £12,000 within six months. With business booming, he was keen to leave school. His parents agreed, provided that he had a private tutor to help him to pass his school examinations. By then, the internet was taking off and Andrew could see the business opportunities in it. He decided to add website design and development to his business, and was soon working on more than 1,000 sites. At 16 he joined forces wth Denys Shortt, a distributor of hi-tech products.

Andrew is an ideal role model for other young entrepreneurs. His message: "Age is not a problem. Just so long as you have total confidence in yourself, your ability and your products, you can succeed."

The Times, Saturday, July 13, 2003 (adapted)

VOCABULARY

a turnover = un chiffre d'affaires
to show off = faire l'étalage de
to ensure = s'assurer
IT = Information technology
a taste = un aperçu
filing = le classement
to take off = décoller.

> TRAVAIL A FAIRE PAR LE CANDIDAT

A- Recopiez les deux tableaux ci-dessous sur votre copie et complétez-les en français à l'aide des informations du texte (2 pts).

Andrew Butt

Son entreprise

B) Répondez en français aux questions suivantes en utilisant uniquement les informations contenues dans le texte.

7 points: B1 = 2 | B2 = 1.5 | B3 = 1.5 | B4 = 2

1. Décrivez les débuts professionnels d'Andrew Butt.

2. Quelle activité Andrew Butt a-t-il entreprise à l'âge de 14 ans? Donnez des précisions.

3. Comment son entreprise a-t-elle évolué?

4. Quel est le message délivré par Andrew Butt dans le texte?

C) Traduisez en français le 3e paragraphe du texte (de "He aimed..." à "$1 million of software.") (3 pts)

D) Recopiez cette publicité pour des stages en informatique en mettant les verbes entre parenthèses la forme exigée par le contexte (2 pts).

If you want to gain the skills your company (to need) in today's modern world, please (to contact) EMPOWER TRAINING SERVICES. We guarantee our course (to improve) your opportunities and make life easier. In the past five years we successfully (to train) more than 500 students.

E) Recopiez ces phrases extraites d'un rapport d'entreprise en les complétant à l'aide des mots requis par le contexte et choisis dans la liste ci-dessous: (2 pts)

in order to, unless, although, but, in spite of, so that

1. The results last year were bad, __________________they could have been worse.
2. The company is now doing better _______________ its recent problems.
3. _________________ the new manager has not been in charge for long, a number of changes have already been made.
4. A website has been set up ________________ make business more efficient.


F) Rédigez en anglais une présentation de l'entreprise BOX OFFICE en vous servant des informations fournies ci-dessous et en faisant des phrases complètes. (4 pts).

COMPANY FACT FILE

Name: BOX OFFICE
Location: Birmingham, UK
Employees: 18
Activity: Manufacturing (box files for office use)
Production: 350,000 files per year
Turnover: £500,000 in 2003
Future plans: Expansion/introduction of on-line sales