St Bede’s Catholic Grammar School have romped their way to victory in the Grand Finals of the Apax-Mosaic Enterprise Challenge, at an event at Hogan Lovells LLP in London on Thursday 1 May, hosted by veteran TV presenter, Martyn Lewis CBE.

The students pitched their ideas to a judging panel including Amber Atherton, Made in Chelsea star and founder of MyFlashTrash.com, and BBC ‘The Apprentice’ stars, Margaret Mountford (former advisor to Lord Sugar), Melody Hossaini and Gabrielle Omar.

After a 4 month battle, St Bede’s, with their brainwave Trash4Cash, collecting recyclables and selling them to local companies, beat off the competition from over 5,000 other students in Britain to win the national Dragon’s Den-style competition.

The team will receive a £2,500 cash prize and £500 seed fund to start up their business from Mosaic, and other prizes to be announced following the event.

Khawar Mann OBE, chairman for Mosaic, said:

“Well done to the winning team from St Bede’s, they’ve been absolutely brilliant and we’re looking forward to seeing what they do with their start up! The runner’s up came in very close too, and I hope they’ll take part again next year.

“Thanks again to everyone who has made the Apax-Mosaic Enterprise Challenge a huge success this year, not least of all the hundreds of business mentors that freely give their time to support the young people involved, and our sponsors.”

The runners-up are:

• Ladybridge High School (North West) – the students want to encourage their local community to use allotments to grow vegetables, which could be sold on cheaply.
• Brondesbury College (London) – the team proposed a mobile app to replace paper-based diaries.
• Harborne Academy (West Midlands) – the students devised a social media platform to put students and parents in touch with local business for work experience.
• Gordon’s School (South East) – their idea is revision app, for students to support each other with their coursework and exams via their mobiles.
• Langley Academy (Wildcard entry, from the South East) – The team earned themselves the competition’s first ever wildcard entry place following a successful pitch of their tutoring business idea, aimed at helping primary pupils to make a successful transition to secondary school.

The Apax-Mosaic Enterprise Challenge is a secondary school initiative aimed at inspiring young people living in the most deprived communities about business and entrepreneurship, and helping to raise their aspirations, self- belief and employability. It is sponsored by the Apax Foundation and Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

The Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise, Matthew Hancock MP, recently published revised statutory guidance for those providing young people with careers advice in schools, effective from September 2014, to include Mosaic programmes such as the Apax-Mosaic Enterprise Challenge.

Mosaic is looking for professionals and entrepreneurs to mentor more young people in next year’s competition.

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