By Miss Watkins, Head of Economics, Enterprise & Innovation Co-Ordinator

This year we are participating this year in the 10X Challenge, a national competition for young people aged from 11 – 19 years. The Challenge is run by Young Enterprise, the UK’s leading enterprise and financial education charity, helping young people to develop the skills they need for life and work.

Students are pledged £10 from the 10X Bank and use this start-up capital to get their enterprise off the ground. They have four weeks to set up their business – coming up with an idea of a product or service they can sell and gain first-hand experience of what it’s like to be an entrepreneur. We have 24 teams of budding entrepreneurs in Year 9 taking on the challenge with around 90 girls involved!

Last week the teams were tasked with creating a stand out logo for their ventures and this week sees them partake in a sales pitch competition. Teams will prepare an ‘Elevator Pitch’ that’s no more than 60 seconds that explains the key features and benefits of their product or service.

The 10X Challenge will take place for four weeks from Monday 19th April – Friday 14th May.  Any support and encouragement you can give during this activity would really be appreciated. We are very excited to see the entrepreneurial capabilities of the groups and look forward to sharing more of their product ideas with you.