Education and Enterprise - Case Studies

Emma Harrison weaves enterprise magic on GCSE students 

In August 2007, A4e Chairman Emma Harrison and the A4e Education and Enterprise team organised and directed an exciting evening for a group of Year 10 and 11 students on how to come up with an idea to start a successful business.

The group from North Nottinghamshire secondary schools were attending a Westminster summer school week organised by local MP John Mann - believed to be the first of its kind in the UK. The evening at Westminster began with the students being split into four groups next to the London Eye and given the task of creating a business proposal which was related to the top-rated tourist attraction. The twist in the challenge was that the new enterprise could not be situated on the ground.

Before the groups went on the Eye, they each had fifteen minutes to come up with their initial ideas. Tourists, who were sunbathing innocently in Jubilee Gardens next to the attraction, suddenly found themselves accosted by one group who were carrying out some impromptu market research on the strength of their idea! Later in the evening, the groups reconvened for a dinner at a Hyde Park hotel when over their meal they developed their proposals and prepared presentations which were to be judged by Emma and John. The proceedings were skilfully marshalled by Sally Orlopp and Michael Glenn of the Education and Enterprise Team and were led off by Emma who gave the students a motivating speech about starting up one’s own business.

After dinner, each group was given five minutes each to make their pitch. Emma and John chose as winners a group who had decided to convert a pod in the London Eye into an interactive learning experience. Their pitch featured an impressive group rap to promote their new product.

The very positive feedback from John Mann’s office after the event was that the students were still buzzing about the evening and Emma throughout the rest of the week. The summer school included a media afternoon with lobby journalists, a ‘mock’ select committee session with energy experts from both Houses of Parliament and a briefing from European Commission officials.

A4e’s Group Commercial Director Sara McKee, who facilitated the winning group’s presentation during the enterprise evening said: “We’re delighted that A4e was invited by John Mann to be part of this ground-breaking and prestigious week. Young people are hearing from a generation of inspiring business leaders like Emma that it’s perfectly okay to take the plunge early in trying to start and build a successful business. When you see GCSE students whipping out their mobile phones to switch on the calculator to calculate projected cash flows, you feel confident about Britain’s next generation of entrepreneurs.”

If you would like to learn more about the work that Education and Enterprise are doing, then please contact Sally Orlopp directly at sorlopp@a4e.co.uk