Innovative sponsorship launches School Young Enterprise Team.
Young Enterprise South and East Staffordshire are delighted to announce that the Young Enterprise team from John Taylor High School in Barton-under-Needwood have already set a first on entering this year’s programme.
In a new initiative, the school’s team has won sponsorship from Burton-based Yee Group Limited to kick-start its entry into what is already looking like being the most competitive Young Enterprise challenge with 16 schools and teams taking part.
The School’s Whizzbot team, led by Managing Director Jordan Cable, will be developing their new product from an original shortlist that included an IT service business. They decided on ‘Whizzbot’ due to its bigger market opportunities amongst different age groups.
Yee Group, Managing Director, Simon Chapman, said, “I was personally inspired by Young Enterprise and the students when I met them at a recent event in Lichfield.
“Their approach to business and commerce, plus their improved understanding of how a successful company should operate in today’s competitive markets, was eye-opening”.
Young Enterprise is the leading company programme devised and operated in schools to give Year 10 to 13 students wide experience in setting up and running their own ‘companies’.
Explaining more about Whizzbot, MD Jordan Cable said, “Children and adults can make a new type of toy which we have named Whizzbot.
“By fitting a small electronic device, charged via a USB port, into a plain or pre-printed template, the Whizzbot moves and zooms around. They can be assembled as an individual toy, or in a group like a team.
“It’s targeted at young children to adults; and we are planning on a range of designs for different age groups and with different creative abilities”.
Simon Chapman continued, “It is no wonder that students who take part of the 10-month annual programme and can then add ‘Participation in Young Enterprise’ to their CVs are highly employable. It helps them to ‘hit the ground running’ when they start their first jobs from school, college or university”,
John Taylor High School are past area and county winners of Young Enterprise, with teams whose companies launched an innovative garden planting kit that was subsequently established as a successful business near Uttoxeter.
“The first-hand business experience provided to students by Young Enterprise cannot be under-estimated”, added Sharon Prosser, YE Link Teacher at JTHS.
“The total package from YE for our students can help set them up in life; and, as we have shown, provides the opportunity for them to experiment and to test their business skills before entering the big wide-world after school. We are indebted to Yee Group for their sponsorship”.
The Whizzbot team will be supported during the programme by Business Advisor Sarah Morley from Design for a Day, who will be visiting the school on a weekly basis to support and mentor the team in the competition.
Burton’s Yee Group, are regionally-recognised for their electrical contracting, security and air-conditioning solutions, and passive fire protection in the commercial industrial and public sectors. Yee Group are an award-winning business themselves, as a previous winner in the Burton Mail Business Awards as Business of the Year.
Young Enterprise was started over 40 years ago and whilst not unique can claim to have an established reputation at schools across the UK.
During October, the teams will have set up their companies, decided on their company names, and begun to develop their full business plans.
The Area Finals will be held in March 2016; followed by the County, Regional and National Finals.
The Whizzbot Young Enterprise team from John Taylor High School in Barton-under-Needwood: left to right:
Front holding laptop: Charlotte Brookes, Customer Services and HR Director, with Jordan Cable, MD of Whizzbot.
Back – Simon Chapman, MD of sponsors Yee Group Limited; Sarah Morley, Business Advisor, Design for a Day; Megan Hardman, IT Director; Megan Collins, Production Director; Mimin Fisher, Marketing Director; Cara Wilson, Sales Director; and, Sharon Prosser, Link Teacher at John Taylor High School.
