A company of students from Jersey’s JCG, Beaulieu, Hautlieu and De la Salle have been crowned Best Overall Company at the Young Enterprise South East Regional Final. The final, held at Guildford Cathedral on 13 June, celebrated students who have set up and run a company over the academic year as part of the Young Enterprise Company Programme.
For the first time in Young Enterprise’s 30 year history in Jersey the winning team, “To Be”, will go on to represent the South East of England at the UK Company of the Year final in London on 6 July and could potentially represent the UK in Belgrade at the European final.
“ToBe” won Best Overall Company beating ten teams from Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Surrey, Sussex and the Channel. The teams were judged on their company report, trade stand, interview and presentation.
Rob Stott and Richard Sellors from the Barclays group of Business Advisors said: “The competition in the Regional Finals was very strong and required the team to step upand present in front of a judging panel from major UK businesses. The team were incredibly professional and very articulate about how they commercialised their productwhich is what ultimately won them the top prize.”
Young Enterprise works with over 250,000 students ever year and thousands of young people aged 15-19 from across the UK have set up and run a for-profit business or social enterprise over the academic year as part of the Company Programme – YoungEnterprise’s flagship enterprise education programme. Company Programme students have made 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, “To Be”, created and sold a Jersey-themed recipe book and calendar.The team said that they were “amazed and thrilled to have won and to be going to the national finals!”
The companies were judged by Dominic Grinstead (Met Life), Katie Cox (South East Water), Peter Quilter (Nat West) Richard Layfield (ExxonMobil) and Simon Lewis (Partridge, Muir and Warren).
Alexia McClure, Chair of Young Enterprise Jersey, said: “It is a testament to the individuals in the team and their advisors from Barclays that “ToBe” have been chosen to represent the region in the National Finals. This is the first time a team from Jersey has won at this level and shows in a very practical way, the value of the Company Programme in developing entrepreneurial and employability skills. Good luck to them for the next stage on 6 July.”
Michael Mercieca, Chief Executive of Young Enterprise, said: “I’d like to congratulate the students from “To Be” from Jersey on reaching the UK Final. It’s the ultimate measure of many months of hard work, representing their creativity, resilience and business acumen – I wish them the best of luck.
“You don’t get this stuff from a text book and we are greatly encouraged by our research which shows that 95% of Company alumni go on to education, employment or training – 7% higher than the national average of 88%.”
