Young Enterprise

We have been following the journey of both Young Enterprise groups all year, and it was great to hear that both companies managed to get through to the Shropshire Finals.

G.I.C. (Grove Innovation Centre) (Hayden Goodwin, Ben Evans, Lee Watson, Nick Muir, Sam Norris, Christian Leech) have produced a range of products using vinyl records including clocks, bowls, coasters and cd/games racks. They held a Christmas fair in school and attended 3 Young Enterprise trade fairs in Shrewsbury & Telford. They also held another fair in school just before the Easter hols.

Genesis (George Atkinson, Melissa France, Dan Bentley, Yasmin Jewels) produced a range of handmade male and female jewellery products! They held a Valentine’s fair in school and attended 2 Young Enterprise trade fairs in Shrewsbury & Telford.

For the Shropshire finals, they had just a few weeks to prepare for an interview with the judging panel, and also prepare a 5 minute presentation to an audience of over 100 people!

On Wednesday 29th April, both teams along with Mr Kinnersley and Miss Daragheh went to Wolverhampton University in Telford. Both teams were nervous but pulled off fantastic and professional presentations. Feedback from the judges’ interviews was also very positive.

On Wednesday 6th May, both teams were invited to the Celebration of Achievement Awards held at Park Inn, Telford. This is a prestigious event in the calendar, attended by the Lord Mayors of Telford and Shrewsbury, over 100 business people and the 12 finalist companies themselves.

The night commenced at 6pm with drinks and a mini trade fair where companies were able to show off their products to the 200 invited guests.  They then had a three course meal, followed by speeches from two guest speakers, one of whom was Mo Chaudry who owns Waterworld, and who recently appeared on Secret Millionaire. He and his wife were sat with the G.I.C boys and they seemed to make a great impression with him; he mentioned them in his speech and they even exchanged business cards at the end of the night!

     Miss Daragheh with both teams at the Achievement Awards night.

Awards
Awards were given for a number of categories and we were very proud to receive the following awards:

Best Product – G.I.C

Leadership Award – Mel France (Genesis)

The Best Overall Company in the area goes on to represent Shropshire in the next stage, which is held in Birmingham in June.

We are very happy to announce that:

3rd place for Best Overall Company went to G.I.C.

Pictured are both teams with Mr Kinnersley and their trophies.

Well done to both teams for their hard work throughout the year. Not only is Young Enterprise about creating a new business opportunity and a great chance to make some money, but it is great for your CV and is an additional achievement towards applications for university and your future career.
You can develop key skills like teamwork, communication and problem solving. You will communicate with customers and suppliers as well as learning a lot about how a business operates!

If you would be interested in joining the Young Enterprise team next year, see Mr Kinnersley or Miss Daragheh for further details.