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Framwellgate pupils shine in business battle
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| TOP TEAM: Back, from left, Framwellgate School Durham business enterprise manager Dorothy Creek, and Michelle Crawford, Shona Millar and Helen Strangward from Events Durham, with members of the winning Future Business Mangates team |
YOUNG entrepreneurs who
hit on a winning idea to recycle
greetings cards were
crowned champions of a gruelling
competition to find the
business brains of tomorrow.
The team from Framwellgate
School, backed by their
mentors from Durham University's
Events Durham
team, were declared winners
of the third annual Future
Business Magnates competition,
during a ceremony at
Ramside Hall Hotel, in
Durham City, on Wednesday.
After six testing challenges
spread over nine months of
competition, the pupil's
Beekcards business, which
recycles then sells on cards
for all occasions, was declared
the overall winner by a
panel of judges.
Framwellgate went into the
final round with a 28-point
lead over nearest rivals
Durham Federation, who delivered
an impressive performance
to win the last challenge,
a daunting 20-minute
presentation to a Dragons'
Den-style panel of judges followed
by an intensive 15 minutes
of questions.
However, Framwellgate did
enough to hold onto the title
and were unveiled as the
overall winners during last
night's awards dinner at the
hotel.
Dave Turnbull, chairman of
the Local Strategic Partnership
and one of the competition's
founders, said: "I genuinely
feel humbled by what
I've seen from all the presentations
today.
"The skills, research and information
that have been put
into all the businesses never
cease to amaze me.
"I'm sure that any of the
projects I've seen today
would work in the real world.
The entrepreneurial skills of
each school give me a good
feeling inside for the next
generation of business people
in Durham."
Fellow judge Barbara
Rochester, businesswoman
with catering firm 9 Altars
and a judge, added: "Having
heard from the business fraternity
in Durham how inspiring
Future Business
Magnates was, I jumped at
the chance to get involved
as a judge.
"The professionalism and
work from all the teams has
surpassed my expectations.
These 12-year-olds are learning
things that will not only
help them at school but with
life skills in general.
"I've already put my company
forward as a mentor for
next year."
The competition, which
was fought out by nine school
teams from across Durham
City and Chester-le-Street, is
designed to test the business
acumen of teams of year
eight pupils, supported by
school staff and teamed up
with mentors from the local
business community.
Judges awarded points for
research, teamwork, creativity
and originality, time management
and planning, as
well as for overall quality of
the entrepreneurial ideas.
Chair of judges Ron Batty
added: "It was a very difficult
decision. Overall, Framwellgate
met every challenge well
and the overall concept of
what they did was exactly
what we were looking for."
Dorothy Creek, business
enteprise manager at
Framwellgate School
Durham, said: "I and the rest
of the team are overwhelmed
that our hard work was seen
by the judges as being the
best. It's always said that all
the teams work hard but that
was truly the case this year.
My team in particular worked
on every aspect of the challenges
out of school as well as
during some school time.
Their committment thoroughly
deserves the accolade
of being Future Business
Magnates for 2008."
1:43pm Friday 4th July 2008
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