Devon youngsters get chance to shine
Five community colleges in Devon have been taking part in a special competition aimed at developing their business and entrepreneurial skills.
It’s part of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership’s Rural Growth Network pilot – one of five nationally, tasked with stimulating economic growth in rural areas – Devon County Council commissioned Devon and Cornwall Business Council (DCBC) to work with pupils at five colleges.
The idea is to help develop young people’s entrepreneurial skills, setting them true to life challenges and to encourage them to work creatively as teams.
The five community colleges are:
Clyst Vale Community College in Broadclyst
Exmouth Community College
Holsworthy Community College
King Edward VI Community College in Totnes
Okehampton Community College
As part of the Enterprise Day Challenge (run on behalf of DCBC by Education Business Partnership) a whole year group of students were set two tasks. One was to produce a plan for a new housing development comprising of 20 houses including an element of social housing. Students were required to come up with a lay-out, a company logo, internal design, road plan and costings all to present to a panel of representatives which included Martin Cavanna , Director of The Cavanna Group who co-wrote this challenge.
The other task was to design a new range of school lunchboxes for young children. Here, students had to think about the benefits of sourcing locally produced food, healthy recipes and recycled packaging as well as a marketing plan, slogan and mascot.
Students made their final presentations to more than 70 senior business leaders (members of Devon & Cornwall Business Council) and a panel of judges at Dartington Hall on 12 September including Cabinet Member for Economy and Growth, Cllr Andrew Leadbetter, Tim Jones, Chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Business Council, Ben Rhodes Chief Executive of Devon and Cornwall Business Council, Will Allan from Hillside Foods, Martin Cavanna of The Cavanna Group and Captain Andy Wilkins of the Virtual Jet Centre.
“We were very impressed by all the students. They did a terrific job in researching and preparing for their presentations and came up with some excellent ideas. It was a difficult decision but we had to look at how well the group worked together, assigning individual tasks and taking on their roles as well as originality , creativity and business acumen.”
Councillor Andrew Leadbetter
“Well done to everyone who took part; I’m sure they all have a promising future ahead of them in the world of business and commerce and I’m confident any employer would be glad to have them on their team!”
There were three prizes up for grabs for the RGN Entrepreneurship Award; Best in Category – Property Challenge, Best in Category – Food Challenge and Best Overall.
The winning entry for Best in Category – Property Challenge was King Edward VI Community College in Totnes who put together a plan called Homes4U. They came away with some great prizes from Martin Cavanna of a goody bag per student, a visit to a working site and an offer of work placement experience for individual students.
The winning entry for Best in Category – Food Challenge was Holsworthy Community College who put together a plan called Fruity Devon Kids. They came away with a prize of a hamper per student and follow up visit to Glebe Farm to learn about this new, growing and successful business, plus site tour, all awarded by Will Allan at Hillside Foods
The Best Overall and the winning College was also Holsworthy Community College. The group were awarded with an experience at the Virtual Jet Centre by Captain Andy Wilkins as the top prize.
The RGN project also included a two day workshop for groups of students about how to develop their ideas into a business (delivered by Optimise 4 Ltd)
In addition there was One to One and group mentoring by local business leaders and signposting for students and teachers on where to study and access finance which was delivered by Careers South West.
