Young Entrepreneurs from Pipers Corner School in Buckinghamshire were crowned Young Enterprise Company of the Year at the National Final, supported by HSBC UK. The team will now go on to represent the UK in Lille, France at the European final with President Macron in attendance.
The final, held at County Hall, London on 18th June, celebrated the top 14 student companies set up and run over one academic year as part of the Young Enterprise Company Programme.
Young Enterprise is a national charity which works to equip young people with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to succeed in the changing world of work. This year, students across the country have set up almost 1,000 companies, making all the decisions about their business, from deciding the company name and product, to creating a business plan, managing their finances and selling their products.
The winning team, Bathe have created and sold bath infusion tea bags inspired by influential women. The judges were highly impressed with the team’s product made using sustainable materials only.
“Young Enterprise has been such an incredible experience. As a team we’ve grown so close and YE has been an incredible platform to do that. For the future we expect to go bigger and better and we can’t wait to see what comes next.” – Harriette Evans, Bathe
Ian Stuart, HSBC UK CEO, said:
“HSBC has supported the Company Programme for the last 32 years with colleagues across the UK volunteering their time and expertise to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs. It’s fantastic to see students deal with real life business decisions and develop employability skills such as creativity, resilience and communication. The Company Programme is a great way for young people to prepare themselves for the future world of business.”
Michael Mercieca, Chief Executive of Young Enterprise, said: “Winning the Company Programme Final represents an inspirational journey with many months of hard work, teamwork, creativity and resilience. The experience and skills students from every team will have developed will stay with them for many years to come.”
Team: Bathe
School: Pipers Corner School
Region: South Central
Team: Ragdogs
School: Bloomfield Collegiate School
Region: Northern Ireland
Team: Venture
School: Fortrose Academy
Region: Scotland
Team: Seal Newquay
School: Newquay Tretherras School
Region: South West
Team: Sustain
School: Balcarras School
Region: South West
Team: Venture
School: Fortrose Academy
Region: Scotland
Team: Ragdogs
School: Bloomfield Collegiate School
Region: Northern Ireland
Team: Doodle Bloom
School: Channing School
Region: London
Team: Green Bean
School: Abbey Gate College
Region: North West
Winner: Danielle Hardy
Winner: Ben Taylor
Winner: Yasmin Li
Winners: Glitterati
Winner: Meghan Yates