5th February 2009 - Expo experts help budding Birkdale entrepreneurs become country’s top enterprise club
Birkdale School Enterprise Club, run by Miss McKay and now in its second year, has just won the national Make Your Mark ‘Be Seen’ Enterprise Challenge. This is a great achievement for Sheffield, with over 2000 schools across the country participating in both local and national business start up- related events during November’s National Enterprise Week.
The ‘Be Seen’ Challenge required a high level of participation during the week in which schools entering were judged on how well their Enterprise Club was noticed by the local entrepreneur sector.
For the finale of enterprise week, Birkdale School sent twelve enterprising, fashion conscious sixth form girls to help host the first annual Working Women Expo 2008 in Sheffield. The girls helped with marketing the event to family and friends using new technology like Facebook, welcoming Expo visitors throughout the day, covering exhibitors’ stands and coordinating the eco-fashion show that concluded the event.
Enterprise Club leader Kathy McKay explained, “when one of our parents, local training and marketing entrepreneur Faye Smith who is a member of the Entrepreneurs Ladder approached us to ask if we’d like to be involved, I was delighted. She and Working Woman founder Christina Lima Trindade came into school to get the girls excited about the potential of the project and their role in it and the girls quickly caught the vision.”
Kathy continued, “I was so proud that at the end of the Expo, everyone complimented our students on a fantastic job. They worked really hard and got so much out of it they were buzzing for days afterwards and asking when they could do it again! They particularly loved escorting the Lord Mayor and meeting women’s enterprise champion Valerie Dwyer. Being part of such a successful high profile event celebrating global Women's Enterprise Day helped us gain the winning recognition among local entrepreneurs.”
Working Woman founder Christina Lima Trindade concludes, “Sheffield is becoming known as a growing hotbed of enterprising activity, with initiatives like the Entrepreneur Exchange, BiG Challenge and Entrepreneurs Ladder showing that when entrepreneurs work with schools, the effects can be outstanding. Alongside Faye Smith of Keep Your Fork, who created and promoted the Student Fashion Challenge and Abigayil Madden, a sixth former at King Ecgberts School who at only 17 event- managed the entire fashion show, Entrepreneurs Ladder Members all got involved. Bettina Yarde of Morgan Dias, Valerie Dwyer (serial entrepreneur and UK Women’s Enterprise Champion) and Tina English of Barclays made a tremendous effort to organise the Expo in record time and worked with the girls from Birkdale to celebrate Women's Enterprise Day.
Birkdale entered into four different national and regional enterprise challenges, winning three and is still waiting for the results of the other one. They consider their biggest achievement is their internal School Enterprise Challenge launched during National Enterprise Week which has already produced three real start-up businesses and several others about to launch.
If you are an entrepreneur wishing to give up a little time to inspire young people in schools, please contact Jill White of BiG on 07710 452390
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