Five teams of students from Harrow College and Barking & Dagenham College took part in the Inspiring Enterprise Challenge 2013. Students had the opportunity to participate in a series of enterprise tasks, with a focus on sustainability. This is the third year Harrow College has successfully run the Challenge.
Key speakers on the day included Steve Rawlings, CEO of Lakehouse and Building Lives,
Ernest Kouassi, winner of the Black Youth Achievement Award for Business and Enterprise 2012 and Junior Ogunyemi, author of How to be a Student Entrepreneur.
"The Challenge has been excellent. The speakers were really inspirational and the tasks were very beneficial because they linked to our final pitch to the judges," said Artiola Berisha, who is studying BTEC Level 3, Diploma in Health and Social Care.
A team of learners representing Barking & Dagenham College called 'I'm Possible' won the Challenge. They received a trophy and £250 towards developing their winning social enterprise idea.
The five teams were judged by a panel which included Judith Abbott, Director of Finance and Resources - Harrow College, Ali Golds, Managing Director - Operation Enterprise Ltd and Ash Verma, Chairman - Gateway Business Consultants Ltd.
"The students really enjoyed the event and were fully engaged. Guest speaker Steve Rawlings was really impressed by the winning team and has agreed to work with them to develop their idea further," said Pat Brown, Head of Department.
"Their idea focuses on helping today's youth develop entrepreneurial skills in a positive way. This will be achieved by mentoring and supporting them to take their ideas forward".
The other participating teams were also offered support from the judges to develop their ideas.