Students from Cardiff Sixth Form College recently delivered a series of ‘Dragon’s Den’-style presentations, in a bid to be selected to compete in the Tycoon in Schools competition run by the Peter Jones Foundation, alongside hundreds of students from other UK schools.
The nationwide contest gives students the opportunity to turn their business ideas into reality and win £1,000 prize money, in addition to teaching them transferable skills that have practical implications in the real world such as financial management, business planning and entrepreneurship.
In eight teams of seven, the students presented their business ideas to local entrepreneur, Lee Sharma, and a team of teachers including Acting Principal, Mr. Collier, Head of Humanities, Mrs. Owens and Business Studies teacher, Mrs. Evans.
- Cuda – ‘culture in a box’: a box of food items, including a map of the region where the foods originated from, in addition to fun facts about the area. 30% of profits would be donated to charity, whereas 70% would be kept in the business.
- Shvidko/Folders – a plastic clothes folder, to assist in folding clothes neatly – an idea that is already popular in China, but hasn’t yet taken off in the UK. The students proposed to purchase the equipment from China, and customise the clothes folder by wrapping it in personalised thermal paper. The clothes folders would be sold for £7 each, with £1 from every sale be donated to charity, and the students hoped to sell the item in local charity shops.
- Vicenza – a USB bracelet featuring an upmarket, brown/black leather plaited design, with a USB connection capable of providing 16GB of storage, and a magnetic fixture to secure the bracelet.
- Diet – overnight oat jars consisting of a layer of oats, yoghurt and fruit. The students planned to sell the overnight oats outside of the gym. Another suggestion that they had was for a ‘muscle omelette’ street food offering, made using protein rich food.
- 9588 – a suction cup for drinks bottles, whereby the user could screw off the cup and place the bottle on a flat surface, where it would be tightly secured by the suction mechanism. The suction cup drinks bottle would be ideal for use on public transport.
- Tea Co – environmentally friendly, biodegradable corn starch cups filled with freshly brewed tea.
- Kaleidoscope – themed smartphone cases featuring endangered animals, made in China using environmentally friendly materials.
- Plan A – a consultancy service for students seeking further information about university applications, featuring services such as Skype interview preparation with university graduates who have already completed the application process successfully
The presentations were all of a high standard, and it was a challenge for the judges to decide which teams should go through to the next round.
Although the judges recognised that team 9588’s proposal for a suction cap drinks bottle was an excellent idea, it was rejected because it would be challenging to develop within the timescales of the competition. In addition, Kaleidoscope’s idea of themed smartphone cases was unsuccessful because these kind of items already exist widely, so the idea wasn’t original enough. Finally, the judges turned down Diet’s idea of overnight oats because it was reliant on the students obtaining consent to sell the products outside the gym, which may not have been granted.
If our four teams’ business plans are approved by Tycoon in Schools, each team will receive business loans of £1,000 to use in implementing their business ideas. Trading will begin on 31st October, and will run until the end of term in December. The overall winning team will be judged on the basis of performance in areas such as financial management, achievements and total profit.
Well done to all of the students for all their hard work so far, and good luck to the four teams that have been chosen to go through to the next round!
Categories: News
