Young entrepreneurs from Plymouth College have been announced as winners in the national final of the 2009 Make Your Mark Challenge, the UK's largest enterprise challenge for 14-19 year olds. This is the second enterprise competition the pupils have won outright in 2009 (winning the Young Enterprise competition earlier in the year).
The group of four Plymouth students - Jess Evans, Sarah Marchant, Alex Smith and Tom Watkins - triumphed in the 16-19 category of the competition after battling it out against 11 other teams from across the UK at the National Finals in London. More than 73,000 students originally took part in the competition nationwide when it was launched by Countdown presenter Rachel Riley during Global Entrepreneurship Week in November.
During the action-packed day, held at King's Place, London, Rachel Riley gave a welcome address before teams got the chance to pitch to a top panel of judges, including Heather Stewart, Economics Editor at the Observer, Philip Goodwin from the British Council and Richard Gillies, director of Plan A and Sustainable Development at Marks & Spencer.
The team from Plymouth impressed the judges with their Pro Planners idea, which fulfilled the judges criteria for a business idea which was locally inspired and has a low carbon footprint. Pro Planners are online student planners that get rid of the need to use paper planners for every pupil in the school and also ensure that pupils cannot lose their planners or not know what homework is being set. Teachers upload homework and all pupil planners are updated with the relevant work set.
The Plymouth College team bagged £1,000 for their efforts which will be used by their school to develop their idea further. As part of the winning prize they will also travel to Belgrade, Serbia for the Skills@Work Challenge Final, a joint-project between the British Council and Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise (JA-YE) Europe, supported by Microsoft CEE. The UK team will work with students from European nations such as Bulgaria, Romania and Georgia, before going on to participate in a virtual final with counterparts from countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. Each member of the team also received £100 each in high street shopping vouchers.
Jess Evans of the winning team, said: "It feels amazing to be the 2009 winners. 73,000 people entered this competition so we never expected to get this far so it has been a real surprise. We are so excited to be going to Belgrade and look forward to taking our idea further."
Speaking at the final, Jonathan Shields from Plymouth College said: "We are delighted to be crowned winners in the 2009 Make Your Mark Challenge. Our students have worked extremely hard to get this far and displayed creativity, dedication and a flair for enterprise. The Make Your Mark Challenge is a great opportunity for young people because it nurtures their creativity and helps them develop valuable life skills. "
Dr Jon Rae Sustainability Coordinator for The Dartington Hall Trust, and one of the SW regional judges, comments: "Plymouth College's idea was not only a gloriously simple and ingenious solution cutting paper out of homework but also is a sound commercial proposition. To find real talent, it is clear that we need to look no further than the young men and women in our schools across Devon. Well done Plymouth College and I look forward to seeing this team turn into the entrepreneurs of the future."
Rachel Riley said: "The Make Your Mark Challenge is a fantastic way to get young people interested and excited in business and becoming entrepreneurs. It is vital to inspire and develop the skill set of these future entrepreneurs as they will help to drive our economy in years to come. This year all entrants considered the environmental impact of their entries, ensuring they are prepared for another of the challenges that will become ever more important to business."
