Young entrepreneurs enjoy Enterprise PD day at Comberton Village College

Two Cambridge businesswomen judged the Personal Development Enterprise day at Comberton Village College. Sarah Wilkin founder of Honey PR and Jane Horwood, owner of Catfish Web Design, were invited by the school to judge and give advice to year 10 students in the ‘Dragons Den' style competition.

The Enterprise PD day gave young entrepreneurs the occasion to create their own imaginary enterprise. Divided into fifty groups, the students were given the task of developing pioneering products or services, aimed at a specific target audience.

After completing a number of tasks throughout the day, the groups produced a three-minute presentation, which was then delivered to the panel of judges including Sarah, Jane Horwood, Executive Principal Stephen Munday, Deputy Principal Paul Lawrence and Head of Year Anne Jones.

There were many exceptional and imaginative ideas, with each group supporting their invention with a marketing plan which included a media plan, posters and TV adverts, together with financial forecasts evaluating profit and loss as well as total revenue and costs. The groups were marked on innovation, creativity, risk-management, decision-making and their ability to work together as a team.

Wave Rave was declared overall winner for the invention of an underwater personal music player for swimmers with a host of related products.

Sarah Wilkin says: "Wave Rave stood out for me. The presentation was strong, marketing material exceptional and the group had put a lot of thought into financial planning and marketing during 2012. They worked together very well with each member of the group playing an important role in the presentation."

Jane Horwood says: "I was really impressed with the ideas the students came up with. Particularly because they had a very short space of time in which to think of a product, gather information, work on designs and logos and put their presentation together. There seem to be a few budding entrepreneurs at Comberton!"

Emma Weston, Coordinator of Business and Enterprise says: "It was a fantastic day. The students worked extremely hard and had great fun. It was a great opportunity for the students to work outside their comfort zone and to develop their enterprise skills."

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