Gloucestershires Young Entrepreneurs bring innovative ideas to GCHQ

GFirst LEP’s Education Business Partnership team has taken over 50 students from Gloucestershire’s secondary schools to GCHQ to pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges, as part of the Young Entrepreneurs Competition. The competition saw teams of Year 9 students come up with an original product or service, which they presented at the final hosted by GCHQ in Cheltenham, competing against the ideas of other local schools.

GFirst LEP’s Education Business Partnership team has taken over 50 students from Gloucestershire’s secondary schools to GCHQ to pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges, as part of the Young Entrepreneurs Competition. The competition saw teams of Year 9 students come up with an original product or service, which they presented at the final hosted by GCHQ in Cheltenham, competing against the ideas of other local schools. 

There were some fantastic ideas from students, whose products or services were initially judged by an independent panel at their school earlier this year, before presenting at GCHQ. A range of schools from across Gloucestershire put the judges through their paces at the final with their business ideas; participants included Cheltenham College, Chosen Hill School, Cleeve School, The Crypt School, Dean Close School, Lakers School, Pates School and Wycliffe School.

The ideas arose from the brief given to students from GFirst LEP’s Education Business Partnership team. The students’ pitches needed to include a product or service concerning business technology or mobile devices, an invention that would make a busy business person’s life easier or help people be safer online. Working in small teams, students included aspects of essential business processes such as finance, advertising and marketing that successfully capitalised on their idea.

The judges were overwhelmed with the creativity of the ideas, and praised the students on the work they had put into the competition. The final results from the Young Entrepreneurs Competition are:

1st place: The Crypt School, Gloucester

2nd place: Pates School, Cheltenham

3rd place: Chosen Hill School, Gloucester

Michelle Gardner a teacher from The Crypt School, said: “Our students have gained some great skills throughout the Young Entrepreneurs Competition, from creative thinking and team working, to confidence in presenting. Working with Business Mentors has helped our students learn how to work in a professional manner; understanding the importance of deadlines and different aspects of business. The students have real fun during the competition, and it’s great to see them being inspired and enjoying thinking outside of the box.”

Business Mentor Marcus Grant, Employment Advisor at TCV Employment and Training Services, said: “There were some amazing ideas being put forward from the students during the competition, and we could see a real increase in confidence, as many of them have never presented in front of an audience before. The Young Entrepreneurs Competition is a great way for voluntary Business Mentors to bring the professional skills that we have learnt over the years to Gloucestershire’s students, and bridge the gap between business and education. It has been a joy helping develop and encourage the students.”    

If your school would like to take part in the Young Entrepreneurs Competition in the next academic year, please get in touch for more details on ebp@gfirst.co.uk

The Education Business Partnership Team are looking for new Business Mentors to volunteer to help with programmes, so to get involved, visit the EBP section of our website for more dates and details www.gfirstlep.com/ebp.