This year’s Ardingly College business competition “Take a Risk” proved yet again to be very popular, with 67 Lower Sixth students taking part. The theme was to create a sustainable product or service, which generated a very healthy competitive atmosphere amongst the teams and this year it was particularly true, as we had another nail biting finish.
Our judges struggled to separate the teams as there were some excellent business plans and powerfully delivered presentations. The overall winner, after much deliberation by the judges, was finally declared to be the team GrowIn, with the idea of a flat pack home farming kit with its own light and heat system.
The members of the winning team, mentored by Pamela Bower-Nye, were:
Louise K, Caroline B-R, Cassian R, Fraser P, Kenny Y, Justus B, Ed C and Oliver H.
We also saw innovative ideas from other teams such as an app that shows visual representations of water and energy consumption, clothing barcode reader that shows the sustainability of the product, a blue tooth device that monitors shower times, a subscription package to grow your own food from home, a product to lengthen the life of shoes, an energy reducing intelligent electric plug and a water saving electric toothbrush.
Overall, this business competition is a useful experience that all competing LVI students can refer to in their personal statements for university applications next year and allows them to also reflect on their team working skills for job interviews. We are very grateful to all the external mentors and judges who gave so generously of their time.
