Enterprise Challenge 2009/10 (21/10/2009)

October saw the launch of the Enterprise Challenge 2009/10 supported by Morston Assets, the Norfolk Charitable Trust and the College of West Anglia. The competition aimed at entrepreneurs studying the BTEC National Diploma in Business and Retail sees 10 teams start up and run a business for 6 months.

The Principal David Pomfret launched the event in the Main Hall of the King’s Lynn Campus at 2.00 pm on Wednesday 14th October 2009, with a few words of support to the students prior to their Dragon Den style interview with the panel. The ten teams presented their business plan and financial results to the panel consisting of Morston Assets Head of Sustainable Regeneration, David Taylor and Manager for the Norfolk Charitable Trust, Laura Foster with Richard Bradley, Head of Faculty, Kelvin Wright, Programme Manager together with other members of the college’s business studies team. There are 66 students participating and each of the 10 team will be given £100 from the Norfolk Charitable Trust to start their own enterprise initiative.

Isobelle Robinson, Business Studies Lecturer commented, “Second year students have been acting as Enterprise Mentors to the first years, using their experiences and entrepreneurial skills to enhance the first years experience and highlight the potential challenges and opportunities. She continued with, “They have been giving enterprise sessions to the learners and advising them on their business ideas and how to improve them. Many of the business ideas are excellent and have already shown some success. They intend to sell products in an enterprise area in the college shop and many of the businesses have secured sponsorship with local companies already”.

David Taylor, Head of Sustainable Development at Morston Assets commented: “Encouraging local entrepreneurs and enterprise to develop and succeed is central to our vision of developing 21st Century Sustainable Communities where each job is important and respected. The business biased community ethic that we develop in our ‘Yours’ projects provides the support and encouragement for businesses whether new or established. This competition provides young, ambitious and innovative entrepreneurs the opportunity to start up a business and we hope that there will be much to celebrate over the next 6 months”

The overall winner will be offered free business accommodation for up to 2 years in the proposed state of the art Enterprise Centre based in King’s Lynn once completed or alternative business premises will be offered for the same period.