Students showing spirit of enterprise in finals

Thirty secondary school students are to compete in the regional finals of the Apax-Mosaic Enterprise Challenge next week.

The Yorkshire Post is media partner.

The six teams hoping to be crowned the Yorkshire winners, are from Allerton High School in Leeds, South Leeds Academy, St Bede’s Catholic Grammar School in Bradford, E-ACT Leeds East, Lawnswood School in Leeds and Freeston Academy, near Wakefield

The teams were mentored by volunteers from Morrison’s, Hallmark, Ison Harrison and The Whole Caboodle.

The regional finals event is on March 20 at Leeds Trinity University, where students will be put to the test by a panel of judges, including freeserve founder Ajaz Ahmed.

Mr Ahmed said: “Mosaic is a wonderful organisation that helps to improve the aspirations of young people and they get to meet people that they might not otherwise ever come into contact with. I’m looking forward to being a judge on the Enterprise Challenge, there are some great ideas out there.”

The winning team will compete in the national final for £2,500 prize money for their school, £500 seed money to invest in a social enterprise benefiting their school, and specialised mentoring from a private equity firm for their business idea. The competition is co-sponsored by the Apax Foundation, and the Department for Communities and Local Government.