Member Article

Local school reach business end of national competition

Five schools from across the South East went head to head at the regional finals of an initiative designed to help teach school pupils essential business skills, whilst increasing their aspirations and self-belief.

The Mosaic Enterprise Challenge South East Regional Finals 2015 was held at Slough Aspire Centre and saw the five teams present to a judging panel with the key objective of reaching the Grand Final in London. Schools participating in the event included Langley Academy in Langley, Garth Hill College in Bracknell, Gordon’s School in Woking, Bishop David Brown School in Woking and Fullbrook School in New Haw.

The Mosaic Enterprise Challenge, supported by the Apax Foundation and Nectar Trust as well as support from Department of Communities and Local Government is a fully-funded programme that helps young people between the ages of 11 and 16, improve their business acumen, confidence and self-belief.

Over 430 secondary school pupils from 12 schools across the South East participated in the competition before the final five were shortlisted to compete in the regional final which was generously supported by GibbsS3. Over 20 mentors were allocated to the teams, guiding and developing their business concept whilst improving their understanding of business in general.

Team Enigma from Langley Academy was declared the winning regional finalist at the event, following a convincing presentation of their business concept, which is a community café with integrated ICT help that endeavours to bring the school and local community together and to realise their potential. The winning concept also included the provision of an inclusive tech support group open to people of all ages to join and relax. They are now invited to attend the Grand Final hosted in London on April 23rd.

Jamal Chaudry speaking on behalf of Langley Academy, commented: “The whole day was pretty nerve wracking and we really can’t believe we’re through to the regional finals, it’s so exciting! We’ve worked pretty hard with our mentor and think we’ve come up with a great idea so I think we’ve got a good chance!”

The yearly competition is open to all secondary school children throughout Britain who compete for the top prize of £2500 for their school. During the competition pupils work closely with an allocated mentor to come up with a winning business concept which is then pitched to a regional judging panel in advance of the Grand Final. The winning team get an additional £500 to start-up and run their initiative, all with the help of their mentor.

Chairman of Judges, Stuff Duff, Partner at Pearn Kandola added: “This year’s competition has been the closest one ever with all the school’s delivering strong and interesting business ideas. All of them were well thought through, well presented and commercially viable propositions. The winner, Langley Academy not only had a strong business idea but they had a compelling and thoughtful approach to considering an idea that would benefit the whole community, young and old. This was a winning combination.”

Speaking on behalf of Gordon’s School who were regional finalists for the South East in 2014, team captain Karrun Sharma said; “It’s been an amazing experience especially meeting someone like Tim Campbell who has built such a successful business. We can’t believe that out of 5,000 students we won the regional competition.”

Following the programme, participants revealed that 80% felt more confident about the basics of working in business and 74% believed that given the opportunity they would feel confident about running a business.

Mosaic is an initiative of Business in the Community and was founded by HRH Prince Charles in 2007. Mosaic’s programmes are supported by MPs for business and education, as well as schools and Ofsted, who all see the benefit of opening doors for young people in to the corporate world. Creating opportunities for young people of all backgrounds growing up in some of the most deprived communities.

If you would like to help inspire and guide these young adults to help them reach their potential and would like further information about mentoring or any of the Mosaic programmes, please call 020 7566 8734 or email: mosaic@bitc.org.uk

Mosaic provides fully-funded mentoring programmes in primary schools, secondary schools and prisons across the UK. The charity recruits and trains mentors who volunteer their time and skills to help inspire young people from deprived communities and help them realise their talents and potential.

In a 2013/14 Mosaic report students who took part in the Enterprise Challenge said;

• 80% learnt something new about working in business from their Mosaic mentor

• 80% felt confident about working in business

• 74% felt that given the opportunity they would feel confident running a successful business

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Terry Gilligan .