Burgess Hill School for Girls hosted a national competition backed by former BBC ‘Apprentice’ finalist, Claire Young.
The competition, ‘Ahead of the Game’, was initiated by Louise Robinson, President of the Girls’ Schools Association (GSA) and was launched at Burgess Hill School on Monday 19th March.
The event was the first of four regional Enterprise Days which aimed to encourage the girls to take risks and ‘think like an entrepreneur’. Over 150 Year 10 students attended from thirty girls’ schools across Sussex, Surrey, Kent and London.
The school teams were asked to develop a business proposal for how they would use an empty shop unit on their local high street. They had to base their plans on an initial budget of £500 and were required to pitch for funding to a panel of judges to compete for ten places into the second round.
Local business experts held workshops at the school to assist the girls. They included Clive Smith, a Solicitor from Lewes Smith based in Lewes; Rebekah Musik, founder of the award winning consignment boutique Edit in Cuckfield; Natalie Page, a Strategic Marketing Consultant; Samantha Warner, a Graphic Designer and Brand Consultant and Richard Wheatley, Managing Director and Accountant at Wheatley & Co based in West Sussex.
Mr Wheatley said, “Dispelling the myth that girls have no interest in business finance, these young ladies showed true entrepreneurial spirit, armed with many innovative ideas and raising some very searching questions.”
The ‘Ahead of the Game’ competition is being rolled out over two weeks at three other girls’ schools across the country: Central Newcastle High School, Edgbaston High School in Birmingham and Merchant Taylor’s Girls’ School in Liverpool.
The winning teams from the four events will be invited to put their business proposals into practice in the second round, with a £50 start up fund from the GSA and sponsors of the event, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Research in Motion and Smart Study Ltd. The proceeds of their entrepreneurial scheme will be donated to their chosen charity.
Claire Young has also offered to take the winning teams from each of the first rounds to the MADE Entrepreneur Festival in Sheffield in September where Peter Jones CBE, from the BBC’s Dragons’ Den will be a speaker.
The overall winning team will be announced at the end of the year and presented with an ‘Ahead of the Game’ Award and an overnight trip to London to see a West End show.
Claire Young is known for reaching the final in BBC TV show The Apprentice and is now a successful businesswoman. She commented, “In an increasingly competitive job market it’s essential for students to gain much valued enterprise skills. The UK desperately needs to increase its percentage of women in business and initiatives like ‘Ahead of the Game’ will help to create the next generation of female entrepreneurs.”
Series 8 of ‘The Apprentice’ started on BBC One last Wednesday (21st March).
President of the GSA, Louise Robinson, said “Girls’ schools excel in giving girls the confidence to take calculated risks and make difficult decisions which is why you find that so many female high flyers were educated in all-girls’ schools.”
“We hope this competition will galvanise a new wave of entrepreneurship throughout our schools and we’re delighted to have both Claire Young and our sponsors on board to enthuse the girls and give them practical advice and ideas about how to develop their business ideas.”