What a joy and privilege it is to preside over the College’s annual House Entrepreneurship Competition. This was the second time that the same panel of Robin St Clair Jones (D. 1973-77), Alex Bremer (R. 1979-83), Emma Wimhurst (F. 1982-84) and Rob Little (A. 1982-87) had adjudicated the competition, and again we witnessed an extraordinary display of creativity and (occassionaly rudimentary) business acumen.
All 4 judges agreed that with a little application and adjustment any of the submissions we recieved could have been viable business propositions – an extraordinary assertion when you consider that we were receiving pitches from 17 year olds!
In the end we had to choose just 6 finalists, and from this exceptional shortlist 3 winners who would share the £10,000 prize fund on offer. Each of these winners showed real promise, both in terms of their pitched idea as well as well as potential entrepreneurs of the future.
During the Head Master Richard Cairn’s address to the assembled pupils he spoke of the importance of preparing young people for a future in entrepreneurship as opposed to (or as well as) the traditional career paths laid out for professionals, and I would endorse this sentiment by observing the number of professionals who have come to our agency looking to escape their own established careers by actioning (sometimes outlandish) entrepreneurial business plans of their own. Almost without exception I dearly wish that they had been armed with the sort of advice and experience that this competition is bestowing upon the 6th formers of Brighton College!
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