Manchester Academy Enterprise Champions

On Tuesday 9th March 6 teams from Mosaic schools around the UK took part in the grand final of the 2010 Apax Partners – Mosaic Enterprise Challenge. The victorious Manchester Academy were awarded their trophy and a cheque for £3,000 by Evan Davis, presenter of Dragon’s Den, and Khawar Mann of Apax Partners.

The winning team, having generated a net profit of a staggering £6.3million over a 3 year period, were whisked off on an afternoon of adventure around London. Starting with a behind the scenes tour of the BBC live news broadcasting rooms with Mishal Hussain, the team then went to meet the Chancellor of the Exchequer at Number 11 Downing Street.

Next stop was he Apax Partners offices, where they were able to relax and talk to Apax staff over tea. The last stop of their whirlwind day was spending time with this year’s celebrity mentor, James Den of Dragon’s Den and CEO of Hamilton Bradshaw.

A huge congratulations goes to all of those teams that took part in the final – it was a great achievement to reach this stage – and many thanks to the mentors who have provided great guidance and advice to all of the teams throughout the competition.

This year’s Enterprise Challenge saw more than 140 teams of 13 – 15 year olds from over 30 schools take part all around England. The Enterprise Challenge gives young people the chance to access mentoring from successful business men and women and develop their entrepreneurial skills by setting up a ‘virtual business’ online. Using enterprise software the game puts students into realistic business scenarios where they develop valuable skills such as how to market new products or identify business competitors through set challenges.

The Results

Winners – Manchester Academy: net profit £6.3million

Runners up – Small Heath School (West Midlands): net profit £5.9million

Third place – Handsworth Girls School (West Midlands): net profit £5.8million

Finalist – Brondesbury College for Boys (London), Feversham Girls School (Yorkshire), and King’s Heath Boys School (West Midlands)

The day was generously hosted at international law firm, Lovells LLP.

What people said

“I am extremely impressed by Mosaic and highly motivated by the work that they do. It’s been a great experience to be a part of the Enterprise Challenge and it was a privilege to meet the winners from Manchester Academy, who are no doubt the entrepreneurs of the future!” James Caan, Dragon’s Den and Hamilton Bradshaw

“We hope that this challenge has given young people, who might not ordinarily get access to local business role models, the chance to seek new career opportunities and realise their potential. Manchester Academy are deserved winners of the challenge as they illustrated how much they had learnt from playing the game and the advice their mentors had given them.” John O’Brien, Managing Director of Mosaic.

For More Information

To find out more about the day or for a press release, please contact Rosie Williams-Wynne, Communcations – / 020 7566 6657.

To find out how you, your business, or your school can get involved in the Apax Partners – Mosaic Enterprise Challenge, please contact Noreen Khan, Yorkshire Regional Manager –