Jersey Young Enterprise hosted two teams, comprised of local sixth form students, who battled throughout the last few months as part of the Company Programme awards.
Eamon Fenlon, Chairman of the Jersey Young Enterprise Board said: “Success in the Young Enterprise Programme is not just about which team has made the most profit or appears to be the most professional on the surface – success is much more than that. We have identified four key elements of success:
- The enterprise
- Running of the enterprise
- The team journey
- The impact and legacy of the enterprise.
“During the programme the Students will have discovered that it takes more than just academic know-how to run a successful company and they will have developed a strong sense of purpose and entrepreneurial skills which is highly recognised by colleges, universities and employers. They will have learned life lessons such as collaboration, communication, compromise as well as the more academic aspects such as finance, HR, corporate governance, marketing and branding that will propel them forward in their future careers.
“Due to Covid-19 this Young Enterprise year was more challenging, as the student team meetings had to be held virtually – so well done to them all for overcoming this challenge!”
The competition awards:
‘Best Individual Student Journey’ awards – Vanessa Fernandes (team Aurora) and Mia Carnegie (team Exempt)
Kirsty Mackay, Assurance Associate Partner Assurance at EY and a member of the judging panel said: “We were very grateful for the Business Advisors to each team (G4S and Barclays), who met with the teams weekly since last October to provide the students with insights. From their feedback, and from what we witnessed during the presentations, the contributions of each of the winners to their team shone through. Very well done to both of
our worthy winners.”
‘Best Administered Company’ – Team Exempt
David Bailey, COO of RBC Wealth Management, a member of the judging panel who presented the award said: “It was very interesting to review the minutes and records kept by both teams which enabled us as a judging panel to understand what each team’s journey consisted of, how as teams they deliberated over decisions and how each team executed decisions they made.”
‘Best Managing Director’ award – Max Tennant from Team Aurora
Amy Bryant, the Deputy Chief Executive of Jersey Finance and a member of the judging panel said: “We were very impressed as a judging panel by Max who came across as confident yet considered. He knew when to lead and when other members of his team should lead, and he allowed them to do so throughout. He is a very deserving winner.
“We would also like to highly commend Michael Franklin the MD of Exempt, who rose to fill the MD gap in his team part way through the competition. He is a rising star and a force to be reckoned with going forward.”
‘Best Company Journey’ award – Team Aurora.
Rory Steel, Head of the Digital Academy, Digital Jersey said: “Really good to see the kids step up to the plate during such a difficult year. Stirling work from everyone involved. We were delighted that both teams selected mental health, waste reduction and sustainability as their core product themes.
“We were particularly impressed with Team Aurora who not only collaborated with the Listening Lounge charity during the competition but who also selected a clever choice of product. Their ‘wellness care box’ which consisted of several components allowed them to pivot their selection of box contents to reflect changing market needs.”
This year, the Local Young Enterprise Area Board were delighted to have so much support from the Business Community including voluntary support from the following businesses: Acorn, Art in the Frame, Association of Jersey Charities, Barclays, Chapter One, Digital Jersey, EY, Fetch, G4S, I.D.ology, Jersey Business, Jersey Finance, JET, Romerils, Royal Bank of Canada, Simon Drieu, The Harbour Gallery, SafeLink, Trust Cloud Services.
The Young Enterprise Programme in Jersey is run by Young Enterprise Jersey, a local charity which has for over 30 years been helping to improve the life chances of young people in Jersey by enabling them to start and run a business.
The Young Enterprise Company programme is designed to give students the extra experience, skills and confidence through setting up a live business, developing a product or service and delivering it to the public. At the end of each academic year, the student teams must present a company report detailing their journey which is then judged by an independent panel of professional experts.
The main photo shows, from left to right: Max Tennant, from Jersey Young Enterprise ‘Team Aurora’, the winner of the MD award, accepting a donation to Acorn from Colin Gaskell, Head of Retail at Romerils as part of the Acorn Challenge task held in Q4, 2020.
