Shropshire’s next generation of entrepreneurs give huge cause for hope. I had the pleasure of spending last night with Young Enterprise entrants from around the county and they were very impressive.
In the space of a few months, with the support of their schools and mentors from the business world, these young people:
– create a real company;
– research and develop products;
– take those products to market;
– iterate and refine concepts;
– try to generate a profit;
– write it all up into a business report;
– present everything they have done to judges;
– stand in front of their peers and the business community in a competitive environment.
That’s no mean feat for anyone.
Taking the time to talk to all of the groups and examine their products before the presentations, it was striking how much of the guidance they had taken on board and run with.
Many had made a healthy profit and were aiming to put that back into good causes. Some were projects which were ideal for the competition, while others clearly had a future if anyone were minded to run with them.
As a sponsor I had the pleasure of sharing a table with the year 12 students from Newport Girls’ High School – who took a clutch of awards and then the overall title, to their great joy!
They will be going on to represent the county at regional level with their excellent concept, Crucial Compacts, and they will be a credit to Shropshire whatever the outcome.
Backed by business
We were treated to three of the best presentations during the course of the night and they were all mightily impressive.
These are the young people who, through gaining practical skills and insight (and being willing to go the extra mile), will find little trouble making their way into the world of work. Some of them will be the next business leaders and we were heartened to see it.
Our congratulations to Crucial Compacts and to all of the teams, including Zest, from Shrewsbury High School, who I was delighted to present with the Creative Marketing Award.
Young Enterprise is an excellent initiative, made possible in our county by passionate and hard working people, and at Be Bold Media we would encourage all businesses to take a closer look at how they can support it in future because this is where our next bright young business stars will come from.
