Five teenagers from Skinners’ Academy in Hackney, East London are today celebrating the culmination of an extraordinary year-long journey from classroom to boardroom.
The pupils will see their winning business idea from the 2015 Mosaic Enterprise Challenge, a competition driven by Mosaic, HRH The Prince of Wales’ mentoring charity, turned into a commercial reality by ParentPay, the online payment service for schools and families.
The young entrepreneurs entered the 2015 Enterprise Challenge as ‘Team iRoundUp’ with a simple, yet ingenious idea for a scheme that rounds up payments made using a school’s existing electronic payment system, with the excess then being donated to a nominated charity.
One year on, Agnieszka Rudnik, 16, Daisie Spiteri, 15, Elif Sucu, 16, Mark Daniel, 16 and Matthew Daniel, 16 attended the 2016 Enterprise Challenge Grand Final in London on 4 May, where CEO Clint Wilson officially announced the professional launch of their scheme and roll out across ParentPay’s 6,000 schools.
The pupils from Team iRoundUp said: “We never dreamed our idea would get this far. We’re excited and very proud and it’s great to think that whatever we do in the future, our product will exist, raising money for good causes. The whole experience has taught us so much; not only about business but also about confidence and ambition. We couldn’t be happier and today is a very special day”.
Clint Wilson said: “Skinners’ Academy is a centre of excellence for enterprise and seeks to empower their pupils to contribute positively to the community. Combining that spirit with ParentPay’s reach across millions of parents and pupils, and Mosaic’s ethos of inspiring young people to realise their talents and potential is what iRoundUp is all about.
“The Skinners’ Academy pupils have been supporting the design and development of the iRoundUp concept, which we plan to launch on the ParentPay platform during the Autumn Term. To be the first team to take a business idea from the Enterprise Challenge through to launch is a notable achievement in itself. The fact it could help raise hundreds of thousands for charities is truly inspiring.”
Dalia Abubakr, Comms & Enterprise Support Officer at Skinners’ Academy, said: “Skinners’ Academy is extremely proud to be the first winner of the Mosaic Enterprise Challenge to formally launch our pupils’ winning idea with the help of ParentPay and turn it into a business reality.
“The pupils who form iRoundUp have worked extremely hard on their business concept, from perfecting their business pitch to approaching the CEO of ParentPay, Clint Wilson, to see if there was any scope to launch the iRoundUp scheme. We are eager to begin the process of potentially raising millions of pounds a year for charity and expanding the scheme across the other 6000+ schools that use ParentPay’s services throughout the United Kingdom.
“I would like to especially thank Brooke Greville & Asif Minhas, the mentors assigned by Mosaic to Skinners’ Academy, for their ongoing support of the team and their idea.”
Jonathan Freeman, Managing Director of Mosaic, said: “This is truly a moment to celebrate. The success that Team iRoundUp has achieved is very much deserved and proof that high-quality mentoring, such as that enjoyed by the pupils taking part in the Enterprise Challenge, has the potential to change lives. Mosaic will remain forever committed to nurturing and encouraging the talent of pupils in schools throughout the UK, regardless of background or faith.”
