Meet the next generation of local entrepreneurs!

Last year, we put local schools to the test with the launch of our new challenge, ‘Dragon’s Den meets The Apprentice’, and the winners were revealed at the final event last week.

Taken inspiration from the BBC’s popular TV shows, the Prince of Wales Hospice created their own exciting challenge for local schools to showcase the next generation of billionaires in the making.

Students teamed up, developed a business idea and pitched their products to a panel of Dragons set up from managers of high profile organisations. The students were given three months and £50 each to create their product and make as much profit as they can.

On Wednesday, 9 February 2022, our teams presented their final results to a panel of judges at King’s Croft Hotel. In total, the teams made a staggering profit of £1550. This money will help to fund quality patient care at the Hospice.

Community and Partnerships Fundraiser, Rebecca Taylor, told us how impressed she was with the results:
“Everyone did such a fantastic job. We were amazed by how creative and savvy they were, and we can’t thank the teams enough for all the money they’ve raised for our Hospice.”

The overall winner, and recipient of the award for ‘Most Money Raised’, was team ‘Prince of Sweets’ from Carleton High School who produced beautifully presented, seasonal Christmas boxes and made the biggest profit amongst the young entrepreneurs. The judges said their pitch was ‘delivered with confidence’, and awarded them £100 in Nike vouchers, donated by Nike at Junction 32.

More awards were given out on the day, which included the winner of the ‘Best Original Pitch’ and was won by team ‘Crown Candy’ from The King’s School. The trophy for the ‘Best Innovation’ award was won by team ‘Treats in a Jar’ from Carleton High School. Centre Director at Junction 32, Darren Winter, thanked the teams for their efforts:
“The programme been absolutely wonderful, the teams have worked so hard to deliver their ideas. I look forward to getting more people involved in the future.”

We would like to thank our kind sponsors at Allied Glass, Total Energies and Junction 32, for making this challenge possible.

Thank you to all of our fantastic judges too who made the students feel at ease during their journey; Claire Sutherley from We Are Wakefield, Phil Morris from Allied Glass, Darren Winter from Junction 32, Nikola Towell from Total Energies and from The Prince of Wales Hospice our very own finance team leaders Angela Hutchinson and Sam Calvert.