Anticipating needs and coming up with new ideas is a crucial part of being an entrepreneur. However, this is only the start of setting up a successful venture, as our Y8 boys learned when they participated in an exciting entrepreneurial competition as part of their Y8 post-exam programme.
In groups, the boys were tasked to come up with and develop an idea for a possible business to add to Box End Park and then create a business plan for this. As part of the process, the boys needed to understand their market, identify competitors, develop realistic costings, assess risks and plan how to advertise their ideas. As many boys discovered, realising an idea does not work is as important as finding the ‘big idea’.
The boys’ ideas, which were brilliant and varied, were then presented in classes to select the teams who would go through to the finals at Box End itself on Monday, 3 July.
The day of the final dawned and, in front of all of their Y8 classmates and a judging panel made up of James, Russell and Hannah Barbour, the family who developed and operate Box End, the five final teams presented their brilliant ideas and business plans, before taking questions from the audience and panel. The ideas were wonderfully varied: an outdoor cinema, a bike trail complete with shop and hire, water zorbing, inflatable football, and a high-ropes and aerial challenge course.
The boys in the audience and the panel asked some wonderfully astute questions to the teams before the winners were announced.
- 1st – Edward, Oliver, Matthew and Abid (8JG)
- 2nd – Aled, Freddie and Oliver (8KD)
- 3rd – Carlos, Mohamed and Basil (8B)
- Finalists – Ethan D, Kavin, George G and Harry M (8PD)
- Finalists – Jago, Tom W, Alastair, Tom U (8SP)
The panel praised all the finalists for their “really great creativity’ and ideas and the audience for their “fantastic participation”. They also praised the winning team for their great strapline: “The fun of water without having to get wet” and for providing supporting materials too.
“It was brilliant to see how much the boys engaged with the process. I hope that it has given them a great insight into entrepreneurship and that they will look at things from a different angle going forwards – taking some time to think about how things work.”
With the winners named, what better way to celebrate than to head out into the park for some fun on and off the water.