Worcester Sixth Form College Business students inspired by Entrepreneurs

On Wednesday, 7th November, around 140 Worcester Sixth Form College students of Business A level and BTEC participated in this year’s annual Entrepreneur Day.  The event was organised by second year BTEC Business students as part of their coursework unit for event management.

The day began with presentations from successful local entrepreneurs and businesses – Katy Rees (from Smile Education, a former WSFC student), Zeke Abry (product developer at Gtech), Neil Westwood (from Magic Whiteboards, as seen on Dragon’s Den) and Gemma Went (digital strategist and business mentor). They gave the students insights into their business journeys, how they got to where they are now and what helped them to persevere. Joanne Murphy (from University of Worcester’s Business School) later outlined local degree courses available.

Following the guest presentations, students worked in groups on their main task of the day which was to brainstorm and develop ideas for an app targeted at 16-19 year olds, with consideration of unique selling points, and strategies for pricing and promotion. Each team presented their ideas to the guest speakers, with the three best groups selected to present back to all attendees. The visitors then judged the shortlisted presentations to decide on who deserved to be the winning group and which two teams were runners up.

The winning team came up with a virtual shopping centre app, the judges were impressed by the idea which they felt could be a viable business ideas.

Gemma Went, who runs her own business mentoring company also gave a prize of a lifetime membership to her Simply Smart Business academy.  This was presented to Georgina Luxton, a BTEC Business student.  Gemma was impressed by Georgina’s entrepreneurial skills and her determination to set up her own business.

Kerry Morris, teacher of Business Studies at Worcester Sixth Form College, said: “The day went really well and inspired students to think about becoming an entrepreneur. Students really enjoyed the day and benefited from having the opportunity to talk to the entrepreneurs to expand their knowledge. They got the chance to put their business knowledge into practice and develop skills that will help them in the future. Hopefully some of them will aspire to be great business entrepreneurs.”