For the first time in Young Enterprise’s 30-year history in Jersey, the winning team, ‘ToBe’, will go on to represent the South East of England at the UK Company of the Year final in London on 6 July and could potentially represent the UK in Belgrade at the European final.
ToBe won Best Overall Company, beating ten teams from Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Surrey, Sussex and the Channel Islands. The teams were judged on their company report, trade stand, interview and presentation. ToBe, created and sold a Jersey-themed recipe book and calendar. The team said that they were ‘amazed and thrilled to have won and to be going to the national finals’.
Rob Stott and Richard Sellors from the Barclays group of business advisers said: ‘The competition in the regional finals was very strong and required the team to step up and present in front of a judging panel from major UK businesses. The team were incredibly professional and very articulate about how they commercialised their product, which is what ultimately won them the top prize.’
Young Enterprise works with over 250,000 students every year and thousands of young people aged 15-19 from across the UK have set up and run a for-profit business or social enterprise over the academic year as part of the Company Programme – Young Enterprise’s flagship enterprise education initiative. Company Programme students have made all the decisions about their business, from deciding its name and what product to make, to creating a business
plan, managing their finances and selling their products.
Alexia McClure, the chairperson of Young Enterprise Jersey, said: ‘It is a testament to the individuals in the team and their advisers from Barclays that “ToBe” have been chosen to represent the region in the national finals.
‘This is the first time a team from Jersey has won at this level and shows, in a very practical way, the value of the Company Programme in developing entrepreneurial and employability skills. Good luck to them for the next stage on 6 July.’
