Pupils from Mulberry School for Girls in London celebrate being crowned London champions as they go on to represent the region in The Prince’s Trust Enterprise Challenge National Finals 2019. They successfully fought off tough competition from the other top four finalist schools in the region, beating students from Westminster Academy, Park View School, Bow School and 2018 national champions Eden Girls, Waltham Forest.
The students better known as Team ACE – made up of Nazifa Tabassum, Wajihah Ahmed, Lamisa Worthy, Shamia Akther and Samia Mostafa (all aged 13-14 years) went on to win the London Enterprise Challenge 2019 held today at HSBC in Canary Wharf London. The team won the judges over with the social enterprise idea focusing on reducing food waste and creating food for the local area, sustainably.
The students pitched their business ideas, Dragons Den-style in front of highly acclaimed judging panel from a spectrum of backgrounds that included: Bev Shah, Founder – City Hive, Raghujit Narula, Head of RBWM Distribution – HSBC and Duncan Fraser Senior Partner Special Risks – JLT Group.
Keynote speaker on the day was Founder and Director of the Coconut Merchant, Ali Shariat who inspired the entire audience with his story to success.
On winning The Prince’s Trust Enterprise Challenge London Regional Final, the team from Mulberry School for Girls said:
“We are amazed, ecstatic and a little overwhelmed! We’re really determined and were more confident to keep developing our idea for the Grand Finals and win it for London again!”
Team ACE, Mulberry Girls School
“It was really difficult to choose the winning team today. They were all great ideas and the students were really inspirational, brave and courageous. They all should carry on their entrepreneurial journey!”
Bev Shah, Founder City Hive (Chair of Judges)
Mulberry School for Girls will now go on to the final stage of the competition where they will compete against the other top five finalist schools from across the country each representing their region at the National Grand Finals – from the North West, Yorkshire, West Midlands, London and Scotland. The students will now use the next four weeks to perfect their proposals in a bid to be crowned National Champions of The Prince’s Trust Enterprise Challenge 2019 when they next meet on the 02nd May. The teams are not only competing for the title but £3000 prize money for their schools (£500 of which as seed money towards launching their social enterprise idea.)
The Enterprise Challenge, sponsored by the Apax Foundation, is an annual, national competition during which secondary school students aged 11-16 years old learn about establishing and running a business. Experienced business professionals mentor and support the team through a business simulation game, with the highest-scoring team in each region creating their own social enterprise business ideas and pitching them in regional and national finals.
This year 61 schools and over 2500 students in six areas of the UK including the South East, the West Midlands, the North West, in Yorkshire, London and Glasgow have participated.
The Enterprise Challenge National Finals takes place on Thursday 02nd at Hogan Lovells, London.
Follow the competition on #PTEnterpriseChallenge
