Local Schools enter Young Enterprise competition

Teams from local schools competing in this year’s Young Enterprise competition, recently set up shop in The Orchard Centre, Taunton to sell their products and tell shoppers about their businesses.

Three very different companies took part in the day, making good use of the space kindly donated by The Orchard Centre. The Castle School’s company ‘Rushlight’ had a successful day selling their sustainable candles which they make themselves. ‘Jaroholics’ from King Alfred School were sharing samples of the baking treats made from their gifting jars of pre-prepared ingredients to entice shoppers into buying a jar or two. Taunton School’s company ‘Go-sip’ were explaining their aim of breaking down the barriers of mental health by encouraging everyone to share a chat over a cup of their herbal tea.

The students all really enjoyed the day and learnt a huge amount about how to sell their products to the public and gained a lot of confidence to take them forward to the next stage of the competition.

Tracey Prosser, Young Enterprise Area Manager, commented, ‘We’re so grateful to The Orchard Centre and its staff for giving the young students the time and space to promote their businesses in the heart of Taunton, and for looking after them so well. The customers of Taunton purchased goods from all the schools and in doing so gave the students an opportunity to talk about what they were doing and why.’

Tracey Prosser added, ‘A huge thank you to the Orchard Centre for all your help again and we are looking forward to working with Clarks Village at the end of April”.

Young Enterprise is a not-for-profit business and enterprise education charity that supports young people to develop the employability skills that employers demand, by delivering enterprise and financial education programmes in schools, colleges and universities. The charity makes the connection between school and the world of work, enabling young people to develop the knowledge and attitudes they need to succeed. Young Enterprise runs a ‘company programme’ where young people make all the decisions, from deciding on the company name and product, to creating a business plan, managing the finances and selling their products at trade fairs.