As part of our college Enrichment programme, we offer Leap Enterprise, a year long initiative that gives students to set up their own companies.
Taking part in Leap students learn business skills, teamwork, problem solving, whilst gaining confidence and employability skills. They are responsible for raising their own share capital, choosing, and making a specific product, writing a business plan and marketing the product. At the end of the programme, they will present their company and its results to business advisers and write a report with financial accounts.
On Saturday 4 December, students were invited to take part in the Christmas Trade Fair at the Merrion Centre in Leeds to sell their products. Two businesses were represented, Unique were selling handmade candles and Lucky 7 were selling notebooks and pens. The students who attended included:
Business: Unique
Dobromila Synak
Tryphena Asare
Leontina Gashi
Deborah Mbalazau
Christiana Mumjiev
Business: Lucky 7
Karunveer Singh Bal
Luke Hanson
Roan Hotchen
Luqman Khaliq
Bobby Knox
Members from each of the groups were at the Merrion Centre from 7am to set up before the fair opened at 9am. The students were enthusiastic and professional all day, and it was great to see them being so positively involved in such a great day. Both groups offered discounts and deals throughout the day to attract customers and sell as much of their stock as they could. The fair finished at 4pm and Unique left with only 4 candles left after starting with 36.
“Members of the LEAP organisation which supports college in running the initiative commented on how great Unique’s stall was and how well presented and high quality their products were. The Lucky 7 boys were described as entrepreneurial and having the ‘gift of the gab!’. Students were polite and respectful all day and represented the college excellently!”
Miss Brook, Teacher of Business Studies
We look forward to seeing how both businesses develop over the next few months and the final results reported at the end of the college year.