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Enterprise Event Teaches Students About Doing Business With A Social Conscience

Year 8 students learnt all about becoming social entrepreneurs when they were tasked with setting up a recycling company as part of an enterprise event.

The students worked in teams to first of all come up with ideas for their recycling company, and then work on a plan about how to launch their venture.

A company name, logo and marketing strategy were part of the brief, with the students delegating responsibility within the team to make sure they had every angle covered.

At the end of the day-long event the students presented their ideas and then based on the presentation, a winning team was awarded a theoretical start up budget.

The event was run by Second Hand Phones, a successful phone recycling company that also runs workshops about how to run social enterprises.

Social enterprises are businesses driven by a social or environmental purpose.
Workshop leader Steve Gill said: "We want to introduce the students to the idea of social enterprise and to make them understand that a successful business does not all have to be about profit.

"The day teaches the students a number of skills they can use within their school life, such as communication, organisation and time management."

Enterprise Coordinator Jenny Brackwell, who organised the day, said: "There were some really enterprising ideas for the marketing campaign and some groups thought 'outside the box' and came up with inventive logs, names and ways of presenting their company.

"The presenters from SHP were really impressed with the students especially as they were only Year 8s they said they came up with better ideas and more professional presentations than some Year 10 groups they had worked with.

"The evaluation from the students was very positive and most enjoyed the day and got a lot out of it."

 Following a presentation SHP decided the winners were Melissa Beard, Chloe Cotton, Rhys Alford, Ben Essom, Joanna Leonowicz, Liam Walsh and Rhys Sharratt (all pictured).

The winning team received a trophy from SHP and a £10 gift voucher for a retailer of their choice.