Last week, the Headmaster’s Business Award drew to a close in a closely contested grand finale.
Fifteen groups entered the competition and exhibited their products at the food and beverage trade fair on Friday 22 March. These products included a pizza vending machine, recyclable bamboo straws and Kilner jars of ready-to-mix dessert recipes.
Staff and students who attended the trade fair voted on their favourite enterprises, and Sunny Chutney, Copa Cakes and StressLess Smoothies came out on top. These three groups were then entered into the ‘Dragon’s Den’-style grand finale.
On Thursday 28 March, the three remaining groups presented their amended business plans to the panel of judges, made of Headmaster Mr Davies, Director of External Relations Mrs Green, Marketing and Communications Officer Mr Strudwick, Digital Learning Facilitator Mrs Bayley, and member of last year’s winning team, B Stacey.
Up first were E Thomas, R Abery and L Worthington presenting their Copa Cakes venture. The bite-sized treats contain Copabia oil, a sustainable oil that promotes health and wellbeing. The 100-calorie cakes were brilliantly presented and the judges were impressed by the product and the pitch.
StressLess Smoothies, conceived by P Kenny, M Simpson, G Wornham and A Britten, were up next, and they too had a sample to impress the judges. The strawberry sensation was indeed delicious, and led by P Kenny, the group presented a viable and effective business plan.
F Hewitt and H Finnegan were next to present theirs and H Stride’s Sunny Chutney idea. The business plan was good, the judges loving their homely idea based on a Grandmother's recipe, but certain aspects were not fully considered. The boys’ attitude and approach was almost winning, but they were unfortunately pipped at the post.
After at least 10-minutes of deliberation, the judges decided on the winner: StressLess Smoothies had it in the bag.
The group will enjoy a trip to London with Head of Business Studies Mr Olhausen, who said, ‘The three teams put in a superb performance, which made it an extremely tense and exciting final. Huge congratulations go to StressLess Smoothies who were crowned champions of the Headmaster's Business Award 2019’.
