The first ever Apax-Mosaic Woking Enterprise Challenge final event was held at the HG Wells Centre in Woking on 4th July. The Woking Enterprise Challenge Finals was held following the National Finals, to inspire the teams to develop their business ideas and to help promote the Challenge locally by creating a sense of competitiveness and excitement amongst the schools that took part this year.
Teams from Bishop David Brown (BDB) and Gordon’s schools went head-to-head, with BDB’s Team Space Makers being crowned the eventual, overall winners with an innovative idea for BDB Space, a cloud-based application that enables students to download and save their work in their own ‘space’, reducing the need for memory sticks, the cost of printer ink and subsequent impact on the environment and increasing accessibility for those who do not have access to computers.
Francesca Castelo from Team Space Makers commented: “Mosaic’s Enterprise Challenge was an absolutely fabulous experience for me! It enabled me to think more deeply about other things like ethics and sustainability. Before, I thought that business was just making money and providing goods and services for people. Through the Challenge, I learnt that it is also about the long term and the impact it will have on people and the environment. It will surely be beneficial for me in the future and I feel honoured to have acquired the skills that I learnt.”
Dean Mailes, another team member said: “Mosaic’s Enterprise Challenge has taught me about ethics, sustainability and how to work as a team to achieve a common goal”
Richard Charles, Business Manger from BDB School said: “The students were proud to work with experienced business mentors. This gave them the opportunity to further develop their confidence and ability to present their business idea. They were absolutely delighted to win such an auspicious award and are already looking forward to the next year.”
Also present at the event was Aaqil Ahmed, Mosaic Ambassador and The BBC’s Commissioning Editor Religion and Head of Religion & Ethics. Commenting Aaqil said: “It was a real pleasure to witness the presentations from the schools and, in keeping with Mosaic’s commitment to diversity, you couldn’t have had two more contrasting groups of students. Both delivered slick, unique and well though through presentations but sadly only one could win. I look forward to seeing these winners grow their business idea. They are ones to watch out for!”
The winning team walked away with prize money of £1000, including £500 investment into their business idea, a trophy sponsored by the Woking Advertiser, who also kindly provided us with photographs from the event. Goody bags were donated by the Surrey Chambers of Commerce, and cinema vouchers given by mentor Mike Harvey from Ongar Medical.
Mark Stevens from Auditel, who mentored the team from Gordon’s said: “being a mentor was fantastically rewarding, particularly seeing the students grow in confidence and ability during the sessions. I would recommend Mosaic mentoring to all business people as their way of preparing our next generation of business leaders.”
Shahid Azeem, Chairman of Mosaic South East Regional Leadership Group and Chairman of The Woking Asian Business Forum said: “The Woking Asian Business Forum were delighted to host the first Apax Mosaic Woking Enterprise Challenge Finals at our AGM. It has been a delight to see the talent in our local schools, demonstrated by the fantastic business pitches from the teams. I am grateful to all the mentors who have given up their valuable time to support the students and develop their skills throughout the competition, and to all of our sponsors and partners including Woking Borough Council. We look forward to growing the Enterprise Challenge in Woking next year.”
Mosaic South East is now recruiting mentors to support programme delivery commencing in the autumn term. Anyone interested in becoming a mentor should contact punam.kharbanda@bitc.org.uk
Read coverage of the event in the Woking Advertiser
