Event date: 24 June - 04 July, 2019

“START IT” – Putney and St Paul’s team up for Entrepreneurship Course

Achievements, Careers, Community, Events, General, News, Past Events, Senior School, Sixth Form

St Paul’s School and Putney High School have joined forces with local state schools in a new initiative to give post-GCSE students the entrepreneurial skills they’ll need in the future world of work.

Both schools are founding members of the West London Schools Enterprise Network whose inaugural two week Entrepreneurship course, Start It, has involved mixed group teams working together over a two week period to develop leadership, negotiation, marketing and accounting skills and brainstorm creative solutions to pressing socio-environmental issues, under the guidance of top business brains.

Following the workshops, teams presented their business plans complete with CSR, marketing and branding materials, sales and negotiation strategy, and financial projections. The semi-finalists were chosen to present their pitches to a judging panel of leading experts including, Dame Cillla Snowball (former CEO AMVBBDO) and Brent Hoberman (Lastminute.com) in a hotly contested final on Thursday 4 July 2019.

The winning company, “Sustain” saw Year 11’s Amy G and Annabella H join forces with their St Paul’s counterparts to take on different company roles and create a concept for environmentally friendly cosmetics. The judges were impressed with their ideas and they way that both the product, packaging and pitch tied the concept into the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

 ‘The students have not only developed an appreciation of the challenges of setting up a business, but have also taken a giant leap in developing entrepreneurial skills which will stand them in excellent stead in the Sixth Form and beyond. Team work, an understanding of group dynamics, negotiation, creativity, failure – we’ve seen it all and it has been an incredibly exciting opportunity’.

Sarah Alakija, Head of Careers

The winners received Amazon vouchers and internship opportunities with some of the companies involved.

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