St Sampson’s team Guernsey winners of Channel Islands Student Business Challenge with innovative dog lead idea
GUERNSEY’S St Sampson’s High and Victoria College in Jersey have been named as overall winners of this year’s Channel Islands Student Business Challenge.
Sea Lead from St Sampson’s High School sold dog leads made from old fire hoses and offcuts of aeroplane seat belt webbing.
The Gardening Gang from Victoria College sold ‘sow and grow’ kits and herb gardens. The awards were announced at a virtual awards ceremony.
Eighty teams of students from schools in Guernsey and Jersey took part in the challenge overall, working with mentors from the sponsors – Barclays, EY, and CPA Global – to create and run a business from January to March.
Each team was given a loan of £100 to start their business. The teams collectively generated revenues of more than £30,000 and will donate in the region of £5,000 of their profits to charities including the GSPCA, JSPCA, Durrell, Les Bourgs and Jersey Hospice.
‘Despite the changes brought about by Covid-19 we felt it was important to recognise the exceptional hard work of the teams that took part in the challenge this year.
‘We had to cut the challenge short by a few weeks and have adapted our approach, with our judging performed remotely and our awards being announced at a live streamed event,’ said Kirsty Mackay, associate partner at EY.
‘The teams made impressive profits in a very short space of time.
‘It is inspiring to see the generosity of their charitable donations and to see them actively engaging with their chosen charities whilst still learning key employability skills.
‘These awards are testament to the teams’ hard work in creating viable businesses and we are extremely proud of their achievements.’
Liz Coffey, executive head teacher in Guernsey, said: ‘We are so proud of our students who have successfully created innovative businesses.
‘They have learned a huge amount in the process and we have seen them grow in confidence throughout the challenge.’
Further awards were presented in both islands, with CaRaVan Creations from Beaulieu winning the overall community award in Jersey for their business making accessories and jewellery from upcycled T-shirts.
Grammar students Attic Addicts won the community award in Guernsey for their home accessories and gifts made from upcycled products.
For the first time this year product awards were given to teams with unique and imaginative products, which in Guernsey went to La Mare de Carteret’s Teeny Tiny Toys for their decorated peg dolls.
The Jersey product award was won by Handy Suppliers for their clip-on bags to keep hand sanitiser and dog waste bags easily accessible.
Additionally, a prize was given to a winning team at each school who, in the judges’ opinion, demonstrated effective teamwork, excelled at marketing and showed a good understanding of how to make their business profitable.
In this category, they were La Mare de Carteret’s Teeny Tiny Toys, Guernsey Grammar’s Artisan Ceramics and St Sampson’s Sea Lead.
Participating schools from Jersey were Beaulieu, Grainville, Haute Vallee, Jersey College for Girls, Les Quennevais and Victoria College and from Guernsey were the Grammar, La Mare de Carteret and St Sampson’s High School.
