Started over 25 years ago with the students setting up a business to keep Gobowen train station afloat, Moreton Enterprises at Moreton Hall school is now a flourishing set of business with a turnover last year of over £50,000.
Not bad, considering it is all run by Year 12 students at the school, most of whom start the year with very little business experience but very rapidly have to learn all the tricks of the trade such as strategic planning, sales, marketing, accounting, book keeping, purchasing and stock rotation – to name but a few.
Moreton Enterprises today has its own ‘shopping mall’ (built with funds raised entirely by the girls). The mall includes Essentials (toiletries), Ryman’s stationary, Barclays Bank, Pulse (sports), Revive (clothes and accessories), Boost (smoothies, milkshakes & coffees) and the infamous Tuck shop. It is now working on expanding its virtual shopping experience with a new website offering local produce for sale including Elwy Valley welsh lamb and beef. Jessica Cooke, one of the new student Directors, already has meetings set up with local suppliers to improve the range of goods and services on offer to girls and parents, and Victoria Bull, Director of Essentials, is hoping to develop a partnership with a well-known high street store to enable a wider range of goods to be stocked and to improve profit margins..
The Environmental Services arm of Moreton Enterprises is planning a ‘Girls Go Green’ week to get the whole school involved in green fundraising and environmental awareness.
‘The new student directors at Moreton look forward to their year running Moreton Enterprises,’ says Catherine Ashworth, Head of Business Studies and overseer of the girls who run Moreton Enterprises. ‘It gives them some completely new challenges. They also see it as a real responsibility being the custodians of the businesses for a year. This is unique to Moreton and for those girls who throw themselves into to, it makes a big difference to their future University and job applications.’
