Every year, each of the contending primary schools home to Stockport youngsters are given £400 through Stockport Council’s School Improvement Service to set up and run a small business.
With the help of the money, each primary school has to come up with a business idea, develop it from the idea using market research and eventually design, produce and sell the product.
The new businesses from each school then gather together at Stockport Town Hall to showcase their effects on a stall in front of the rest of the competitors and a selection of judges.
Ten judges made up the panel for the event last week (Thursday 13th) included Assured Events, Karl Perry who celebrated his 10th of involvement with Stockport Young Entrepreneurs of the Year and Sharon Seville from F1rst Commercial Recruitment who had the pleasure of returning to the competition.
The Stockport youngster’s stalls were quizzed about their product or service, revenue, projections and marketing strategy.
Cale Green primary school, took home first prize for designing a Website that offers quick first aid advice to children. Their website covers how to safely treat or respond to a number of common issues that require first aid assistance, ranging from grazed knee to a stroke.
The website is formatted so users can find information about defibrillators and CPR, the then prompts them to give a donation towards defibrillator for the school through a crowdfunding page.
Sharon was so impressed with the First Aid Kid that she has put them in touch with one of her connections, The Defibrillator Shop and Imperative Training to see if they can help promoting Cale Green’s winning idea.
The runner up was Alexandra Park primary school who were inspired by the latest school trends, fidget spinners and slime. The student’s were driven by creating something to fill the gap left by fidget spinners, an item now prohibited in many schools across Stockport. The end product was Strimeball, a stress ball made from slime.
Sharon loved Alexandra Park primary school’s Strimeball so much that she bought the whole F1rst Commercial Recruitment team their very own.
The pupils also had the opportunity to vote for their favourite business idea which was awarded to Queensgate primary school. The students from Queensgate primary won over their peers with Bee Strong, a company selling bee friendly products, such as flower growing kits, to help give bees a boost. They further impressed their fellow competitors by donating all profit from their sales to the families affected by the Manchester attack.
The awards were presented to the children by Alice Webb, the Director of BBC Children’s, who is responsible for the UK’s two most popular children’s networks, CBeebies and CBBC.
Sharon thoroughly enjoyed her time spent as a judge and has commented,
“How lovely it was to see such enthusiasm and excitement from the young entrepreneurs taking part in the competition”
Although there could only be one winner, this year’s Young Entrepreneur competition has highlighted, once again, that Stockport’s youngsters are very talented individuals.
Link to full article:
https://marketingstockport.co.uk/news/stockport-youngsters-impress/