School aiming to scoop national enterprise award
A team of young entrepreneurs from our school is set to compete for the title of 2019 Mosaic Enterprise Challenge grand final winners.
After winning the regional final in March, the team of Year 8 pupils will now pitch their wits against the other regional finalists from across the country in the national final.
Team LAZANIA, has been working with mentors regularly on their business idea of providing a service to overcome the issue of low employability amongst refugees and asylum seekers, by providing a Sunday school to teach them about our culture, the English language and general life skills. They also spent the first week of their Easter holidays in school with the mentors perfecting their business pitch, as well as practicing playing the business simulation game.
The Mosaic Enterprise Challenge is an annual, national competition for students aged 11-16. It is designed to increase young people’s long-term employability, knowledge and understanding of business concepts and how best to apply them. Interaction with specialist volunteer mentors from the business community, who pass on their knowledge and skills, helps students to build their confidence, aspirations, employability and self-efficacy.
The team triumphed against teams from other London region schools in the Mosaic Enterprise Challenge London regional final in March. The teams pitched their business ideas to a panel of acclaimed judges from industry and enterprise.
The pupils from Eden Girls’ School are now preparing to compete in the grand final on Thursday, 2 May, at the City of London offices of Hogan Lovells LLP, an international law firm. Each of the finalists will pitch their business idea to an expert panel of judges, in front of an audience of 150 business leaders.
Team LAZANIA member Ameena Rahman said:
“We are very excited to be competing in the Mosaic Enterprise Challenge national finals and representing Eden Girls’ School, Slough and Star Academies. We are feeling confident, as we have been working very hard preparing for the final pitch and we hope to do everyone proud on the day. Our mentors have been supporting us tremendously throughout the process and we have learnt so much about the world of business from them.”
Principal Karim Murcia said:
“The pupils have been working tremendously hard with their preparations and we have high hopes for the National Finals. The students have developed a strong business acumen through this process and are well on their way to becoming the entrepreneurs of the future.”
Eden Girls’ School, Slough is part of leading multi-academy trust Star Academies, which has previously had success in the competition. In 2016 and 2018, teams from Eden Girls’ School, Waltham Forest won the Mosaic Enterprise Challenge National Finals.
Initially, students compete for six weeks in a realistic, online business simulation game where they must develop and sell a new product – demonstrating how key business issues such as finance, sales, marketing and production affect each other. Each team also submitted an Ethical Business Strategy to demonstrate their understanding of responsible business practices.
The overall winners of the Mosaic Enterprise Challenge 2019 will win a prize of £2,500 for their school, plus a further £500 to invest in developing their business idea and making it a commercial reality. They also receive a winners’ trophy and medals, ride around London in a Rolls Royce Phantom, private tour and afternoon tea at Harrods, an exhilarating ride on the London Eye and a special lunch and tour of the Twitter UK headquarters. Previous winners have also enjoyed tea with the former Prime Minister’s wife at 10 Downing Street, a tour of Clarence House, enjoyed private trips on the London Eye, tea at Harrods, a trip to ITV News to meet Natasha Kaplinksy and a tour of HM Treasury.
The Runners Up receive £2,000 in prize money for their school, while the third placed team gets £1,000. All finalists receive goodie bags and all students receive certificates.
PUPILS from Eden Girls’ School, Slough preparing with their mentors for the national finals of the Mosaic Enterprise Challenge
Added By: Star Academies | Date Added: 1st May 2019 | Posted In: Latest News