Young Enterprise (YE) is a national education charity founded in 1963 to forge links between schools and industry. YE operate a number of programmes for young people on a learning-by-doing principle. Its mission: ‘to inspire and equip young people to learn and succeed through enterprise’. YE involves running a real company and learning about aspects of business from firsthand experience. Each week there are Board Meetings and all Directors of the company (that’s you!) meet to discuss anything from accounts to effective marketing strategies.
The scheme runs from September to April, when there is then the Young Enterprise Competition, where the company competes with other schools in the area to gain awards of excellence including prizes for the Best Company Report, Best Company Presentation and Best Trade Stand. The winning company might find themselves then competing in the Welsh, UK and then even the European finals! Young Enterprise has been run at HMSG for many years. Each year, through the determination and organisation of the teams, we have won a number of awards and placed our companies through to the Gwent Strategic Finals. The girls’ commitment to the scheme has also resulted in the majority of girls achieving Distinction, Credit or Pass in the OCR Young Enterprise Examination, which is the equivalent to two GCSEs and taken in April (the exam is optional).
Each year different products are produced and sold. The products we have had in the past include jewellery, photo frames, CD clocks, T-shirts, and even a photo service and organised discos (not to forget Valentine’s Day roses!). The current Young Enterprise company, ‘One Step at a Time’ comprising of 25 students are producing a ‘networking directory’ for the Haberdashers’ community. This project hopes to generate a healthy profit.
Recent success stories:
2008-09 - ‘Vice-Versa’ was extremely successful, and managed to make a substantial profit. From the outset their vision was to make money, whilst embracing the ethos of Young Enterprise which is ‘learning by doing’. After a very busy year, they proudly donated a cheque for £1000 to Latch, ac children’s charity. Nora Jaafar also won the ‘Best Young Achiever’ award for her contribution at the Competition Finals event. Nora was also nominated and in the final three candidates of ‘Welsh Woman of the Year 2008’.
2007-08 - ‘Allsorts’ who produced beautiful hand-made aprons and bags – Cath Kidston style. At the Area Finals Event, ‘Allsorts’ won Best Company Report and made over £750 profit for the girls and their shareholders!