Secondary Schools ‘Learning to Make a Difference’ in ULMS Business Challenge Final
Secondary Schools from the North West battled it out to be the inaugural ‘Learning to Make a Difference’ Business Challenge champions in the final of the University of Liverpool Management School’s competition.
The competition, a challenge designed to engage secondary schools with social entrepreneurship, asked pupils to identify a social need in their community and use their business skills to show how they would resolve it. Prizes were awarded in the Junior Category, Years 7-8, and Senior Category, Years 9 and above. The Management School was overwhelmed with Presi and PowerPoint presentation entries.
The finalists, who included teams from The Bluecoat School, Merchant Taylors Boys School, Broadgreen International School and Wade Deacon, were invited to come to the Management School and present their ideas informally to a panel of ULMS judges.
Kenbata Bangassa, ULMS Admissions and Widening Participation Lead and one of the competition Judges, commented: "This competition was a great opportunity for school children to put their ideas into practice and show us their business acumen."
The winners of the Senior category, Merchant Taylors’ Boys’ School, impressed the judges with their idea of a short newspaper aimed specifically at school children. The team wanted to address the issue of young people’s lack of engagement with current affairs. Wade Deacon swept the board in the Junior category. The winner was ‘Uniform United’, which tackled the issue of expensive school uniforms through recycling. Prizes were awarded for first, second and third place in each category. Prizes were presented in front of teachers and parents who also attended.
Mrs Mee, Head of Careers at Merchant Taylor’s Boys’ School was delighted with their prize:“This event encouraged students to handle uncertainty and respond positively to change, to create and implement new ideas and ways of doing things, and to take and manage risks. It helps them develop a 'can do' attitude and the drive to make ideas happen, all of which are skills we are trying to develop in the classroom and through our ‘World Tomorrow Today Programme’. We will be taking part next year! “
Liz Crolley, Director of Undergraduate Programmes in ULMS said, 'It was so encouraging to see budding entrepreneurs identify social problems in their community and come up with real solutions. The innovative ideas and quality of presentation was amazing. They had all worked well as a team and the enthusiasm for their projects shone through. I hope they are inspired to continue to develop their entrepreneurial talents and make a real difference in their communities in future. Perhaps we'll even see some of them here in ULMS in the future!'
ULMS looks forward to next year’s ‘Learning to Make a Difference’ Business Challenge.