Five schools from across the North West are set to battle it out to be crowned as the region’s most enterprising school as part of a flagship education initiative driven by Mosaic, HRH The Prince of Wales’ mentoring charity.
Teams of pupils from Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Parrs Wood High School in Didsbury, Ladybridge High School in Bolton, The Hathershaw School in Oldham and Levenshulme High School have already beaten off competition from four other schools in the region to reach the North West Regional Final of Mosaic’s 2016 Enterprise Challenge competition on 10 March 2016.
The final will see the teams go head-to-head in a Dragons’ Den style event in front of a prestigious panel of judges including Lord Lieutenant Warren Smith, Ahti Arshad, Director of Brooklyn Charles, Noor Ali, World Foods Manager at Morrisons and Paul Heywood, Partner at KPMG in Manchester.
Helen Tse MBE, Author and Restaurateur from Sweet Mandarin, has been confirmed as the event’s keynote speaker, with Citizen Khan actor Abdullah Afzal hosting proceedings at the offices of KPMG in St Peter’s Square.
The winning team will progress to the Enterprise Challenge Grand Final in London on 4 May 2016 where they will compete against the winning schools from the South East, West Midlands, Yorkshire, Scotland and London itself, to be crowned national champions.
Run annually, the Enterprise Challenge is a national competition that aims to inspire knowledge, raise aspirations, confidence, self-efficacy and long-term employability among secondary school pupils from some of the most deprived communities across the UK. Supported by specialist, volunteer mentors from across the business community, students compete for six-weeks in an online business game where they must develop, market and sell a new product.
The team crowned national champion on 4 May will receive a prize of £2,500 for their school and a further £500 to invest in developing their business idea and making it a commercial reality. Previous winners have also enjoyed tea at 10 Downing Street and a unique tour of Clarence House.
Anne Earley, Mosaic’s North West Regional Manager, said: “The standard of teams from across the North West was higher than ever this year and proof that the young people in our region, whatever their background, are a source of pride and excitement about the future.
“I’m really looking forward to the Regional Final and discovering which of our schools will be going to the Grand Final for a chance to be crowned national champion. Last but by no means least, I would like to thank our team of volunteer mentors who generously give up their time to coach, support and inspire the pupils taking part in the competition.”
