Six in final of Young Business Dragons event
Students from six schools across the Swansea Bay area are limbering up as they prepare to pitch their Olympic-inspired business ideas to a panel of top business figures after landing a place in the grand final of the Swansea Bay Young Business Dragons.
Students from the winning Year 10 teams from Olchfa Comprehensive School and Bishop Vaughan Catholic School in Swansea, St John Lloyd Catholic Comprehensive School and Bryngwyn Comprehensive School in Carmarthenshire and Dyffryn Comprehensive School and St Joseph’s Roman Catholic School in Neath Port Talbot will now go head-to-head in the Dragon’s Den style final of the entrepreneurial business challenge on the 17th November.
The event, which is sponsored by Wales & West Utilities and organised by Swansea Bay Partnership in association with Careers Wales, has seen over 3,500 students from the Swansea Bay area put forward their creative ideas for a business opportunity around next year’s Olympics.
Over a series of heats the teams from schools across the area have expanded their business ideas with the help of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and mentors from local businesses to develop full marketing strategies.
‘Direction 2012’ from Olchfa has reached the final with an idea for an app containing information about the Olympic events timetable, detail on the competitors and general tourist information about the Olympics including where to eat out and how to get around. The multi lingual app would also have a live feed to the games and has been highly commended for its concise planning by the semi final panellists.
Bishop Vaughan’s team ‘Connect’ joins them in the final after impressing the panellists with their ‘Wrist Wrappers’ concept. Their product is a unisex bracelet, which would have separately purchased interchangeable rings that can be added to customise the bracelet. Each ring would reflect a different part of the Olympics such as flags of the nations taking part, the Olympic values and the Olympic mascots.
‘PPP’ from St Joseph’s Roman Catholic School in Port Talbot has reached the final with their business idea Power Pressure Pad business idea. The idea would see energy being produced when small power pressure pads placed underneath the floor around the Olympic stadiums are stood on. The pressure would result in a spring inside the Power Pressure Pad being compressed which would in turn force a magnet against a metal coil, resulting in a small electrical charge being produced.
Dyffryn Comprehensive School’s ‘Cush Tush’ team joins them in the final with a comfortable answer to the discomfort felt when sitting down for long periods of time. The cushion would carry the colours and emblems of competing countries, so that as well as providing comfort to spectators it would also act as a show of support for the owners favourite country.
‘Continental Cuisine’ from St John Lloyd Catholic Comprehensive School in Llanelli has reached the final with their business idea themed around food from the nations competing in the Olympic Games. The team’s business idea would utilise 10m long catering vans, that would be pitched at the various Olympic sites – each offering exciting continental-inspired food which would be rotated on a daily basis. The team impressed the judges with their plan, which is based around providing a diverse range of foods, made from good quality ingredients at an affordable price.
Bryngwyn Comprehensive School’s ‘Bag A Seat’ team joins them in the final after impressing the panellists with their innovative seat and cooler bag combination for spectators. The team has designed a comfortable memory foam cushion for spectators, which has a cooler bag underneath the seat. The product is made up of three easy to fold sections which are all conveniently stored in a backpack.
Graham Edwards, Chief Executive of sponsors, Wales & West Utilities, said: “The ideas that have been developed throughout the Swansea Bay Young Business Dragons project have been truly inspiring. Each idea has been exciting and has been delivered in a very intelligent and well thought out way.
“I am very much looking forward to seeing the six finalists present their ideas to the judging panel at the grand final in November. The finalists have all come up with truly commendable ideas of which they should be very proud. I wish them all the very best of luck.”
The six schools will now pitch their ideas head-to-head at the final of the Swansea Bay Business Dragons at Margam Orangery on the 17th November. The winning team and business idea will scoop £1,000 prize money and the coveted title of Swansea Bay Young Business Dragons 2011.
Students from the winning Year 10 teams from Olchfa Comprehensive School and Bishop Vaughan Catholic School in Swansea, St John Lloyd Catholic Comprehensive School and Bryngwyn Comprehensive School in Carmarthenshire and Dyffryn Comprehensive School and St Joseph’s Roman Catholic School in Neath Port Talbot will now go head-to-head in the Dragon’s Den style final of the entrepreneurial business challenge on the 17th November.
The event, which is sponsored by Wales & West Utilities and organised by Swansea Bay Partnership in association with Careers Wales, has seen over 3,500 students from the Swansea Bay area put forward their creative ideas for a business opportunity around next year’s Olympics.
Over a series of heats the teams from schools across the area have expanded their business ideas with the help of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and mentors from local businesses to develop full marketing strategies.
‘Direction 2012’ from Olchfa has reached the final with an idea for an app containing information about the Olympic events timetable, detail on the competitors and general tourist information about the Olympics including where to eat out and how to get around. The multi lingual app would also have a live feed to the games and has been highly commended for its concise planning by the semi final panellists.
Bishop Vaughan’s team ‘Connect’ joins them in the final after impressing the panellists with their ‘Wrist Wrappers’ concept. Their product is a unisex bracelet, which would have separately purchased interchangeable rings that can be added to customise the bracelet. Each ring would reflect a different part of the Olympics such as flags of the nations taking part, the Olympic values and the Olympic mascots.
‘PPP’ from St Joseph’s Roman Catholic School in Port Talbot has reached the final with their business idea Power Pressure Pad business idea. The idea would see energy being produced when small power pressure pads placed underneath the floor around the Olympic stadiums are stood on. The pressure would result in a spring inside the Power Pressure Pad being compressed which would in turn force a magnet against a metal coil, resulting in a small electrical charge being produced.
Dyffryn Comprehensive School’s ‘Cush Tush’ team joins them in the final with a comfortable answer to the discomfort felt when sitting down for long periods of time. The cushion would carry the colours and emblems of competing countries, so that as well as providing comfort to spectators it would also act as a show of support for the owners favourite country.
‘Continental Cuisine’ from St John Lloyd Catholic Comprehensive School in Llanelli has reached the final with their business idea themed around food from the nations competing in the Olympic Games. The team’s business idea would utilise 10m long catering vans, that would be pitched at the various Olympic sites – each offering exciting continental-inspired food which would be rotated on a daily basis. The team impressed the judges with their plan, which is based around providing a diverse range of foods, made from good quality ingredients at an affordable price.
Bryngwyn Comprehensive School’s ‘Bag A Seat’ team joins them in the final after impressing the panellists with their innovative seat and cooler bag combination for spectators. The team has designed a comfortable memory foam cushion for spectators, which has a cooler bag underneath the seat. The product is made up of three easy to fold sections which are all conveniently stored in a backpack.
Graham Edwards, Chief Executive of sponsors, Wales & West Utilities, said: “The ideas that have been developed throughout the Swansea Bay Young Business Dragons project have been truly inspiring. Each idea has been exciting and has been delivered in a very intelligent and well thought out way.
“I am very much looking forward to seeing the six finalists present their ideas to the judging panel at the grand final in November. The finalists have all come up with truly commendable ideas of which they should be very proud. I wish them all the very best of luck.”
The six schools will now pitch their ideas head-to-head at the final of the Swansea Bay Business Dragons at Margam Orangery on the 17th November. The winning team and business idea will scoop £1,000 prize money and the coveted title of Swansea Bay Young Business Dragons 2011.
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