By: Braden Ong
When you open a spreadsheet or textbook to learn about business, the formulas look so straightforward: Profit = Revenue – Total Cost
On paper, accounting seems like basic arithmetic. But this month, I found myself sitting in my room in front of a glowing webcam, teaching core financial concepts to 23 students across Africa ranging in age from 17 to 35. Suddenly, those simple formulas were not just homework problems anymore. They felt like real tools for people trying to launch actual businesses, support their families, and build
something meaningful. I co-taught the workshop alongside the founder of Early Entrepedia. She took the mic to cover the entrepreneurship side, talking about mindset, business models, and execution. Meanwhile, I stepped in to run through the raw numbers, covering cost structures, profit margins, and revenue. Being a high school student explaining financial concepts to people almost double
my age was honestly pretty wild at first. Navigating an 18-year age gap across multiple time zones taught me something huge, theory is pretty useless unless you can ground it in everyday life.
What I Learned Breaking Down Revenue
When I was putting my slides together, I wanted to make sure we did not treat revenue like it is the only thing that matters. In a lot of high school clubs or online pitch competitions, people love showing off big revenue numbers. I wanted our cohort to look at unit economics first. We defined revenue as the total money coming in before taking out a single dollar
of expenses: Revenue = Price X Quantity Sold
I walked through examples showing how chasing raw sales numbers without looking at unit volume or customer price can trick a builder into thinking they are crushing it when they are actually about to run out of cash. Seeing the students connect those ideas to their own life was an awesome moment for me.
Uncovering the Hidden Costs
The part of the lesson I had the most fun with was mapping out expenses. I split costs into two main categories:
● Explicit Costs: Direct out-of-pocket expenses like inventory, transport, or
data plans.
● Implicit Costs: The hidden stuff, mainly opportunity cost and the value of
your own time.
I pointed out a huge trap I see all the time; people working 40 hours a week on a project without factoring the value of their own time into their pricing. If you do not pay yourself or account for your effort, your profit calculation is basically fake.
We also broke down fixed vs. variable costs so everyone could calculate their exact break-even point, which is the threshold where you stop losing money and start making it: Break Even Point = Fixed Costs / Unit Price – Variable Cost
Why Profit is the Real Test
When I got to net profit, I made sure to emphasize that profit is not about greed. It is about survival and freedom: Net Profit Margin = (Net Profit/Revenue) X 100
Revenue shows that people like your idea, but profit proves your business can actually survive. Without a healthy margin, you cannot reinvest, you cannot buy inventory in bulk, and you definitely cannot absorb sudden economic shocks. Watching students type their questions into the chat, asking about local currency swings, supply chains, and price margins, completely changed my perspective. Even
with huge differences in geography and resources, everyone in that virtual room was trying to solve the exact same puzzle, how to use scarce resources to create real value.
My Big Takeaway
Co-hosting this workshop proved to me that you do not need a business degree or decades of corporate experience to start sharing knowledge. When young people step up to teach what they know, it strips away the boring jargon and makes economics feel accessible to everyone. Teaching this cohort was not just about sharing formulas. It was one of the coolest experiences I have had, and it reminded me why practical financial education matters so much, no matter where you are in the world.