Emma Walker, semi-finalist of the BBC’s first Junior Apprentice series, has been appointed as Moreton Hall’s first Entrepreneur in Residence for a one year period.
Moreton Hall school in Shropshire has a long history of inspiring young women to get hands-on business experience within the student-run Moreton Enterprises. Moreton Enterprises has been running at the school for 25 years and started when girls decided to re-open the local British Rail train station at Gobowen and take on the running of the ticket office. Today the business runs numerous business and seven retail outlets on-site at the school, including a Ryman's stationery store and a Barclay’s Bank. All the businesses are run entirely by students. Last year the team generated a record turnover of £50,000.
‘This is a very exciting initiative for the school,’ explains Principal, Jonathan Forster. ‘Moreton Enterprises offers girls the chance to get very real, hands-on experience in running business. Emma brings with her some fresh ideas and an impressive level of energy. We look forward to seeing what she and the girls achieve in the next twelve months.’
‘This is a great opportunity for me too,’ says Emma. ‘I will be working with the girls on assessing the viability of packaging up Moreton Enterprises so that it can be offered to other schools. This dovetails perfectly with my own business which is running Enterprise days in schools.’
Business is certainly booming for the young business women of Moreton Hall.