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What would you do if you were given a small amount of money and told to start up a business? And could you make a profit?
Members of a pilot project at Wellington College did – with money-making ideas ranging from making and selling crochet animals, designing and printing t-shirts and taking people’s glass bottles to the recycling centre for a fee.
The eight students were given £20 to set up their enterprise and spent six days over the course of this year meeting businesspeople and discussing topics like how to write a business plan, generate sales and manage your cash flow.
They were able to keep 90% of their profits and finished the year with a trip to Sony Pictures Entertainment UK headquarters in London Paddington, where they watched Gran Turismo and had a mini graduation event.
Student Eliza said: “I enjoyed the talks from the business mentors as I thought it was interesting to hear the stories of their successes and failures.
“It was also effective for my business idea because it made me rethink many of my ideas and different resolutions to overcome a problem.”
Student Freddie said: “I enjoyed learning about the entrepreneurs’ journeys and how they got to their positions,” and Isobel added: “I really liked how you gave us the space to start a business and expand on our ideas.”
The Future Founders project was created by Wellington College’s Head of Business Simon Roundell, founder of drinks company Thomson & Scott Amanda Thomson, and members of the Wellington Community.
It worked with four students from the college alongside two pupils from Tomlinscote School in Frimley, one from Easthampstead Park School in Bracknell and one from Sandhurst School.
Amanda said: “Wellington Future Founders’ students have had a chance to grow their own business from seed funding across the year through their own innovation and graft.
“They have learnt the importance of being both tenacious and resilient in business, as well as how you learn more from failure than you do from success.”
The external pupils were selected to take part in the project by the Wellington College Learning Alliance, which collaborates with state schools to create extra opportunities for their students.
The Future Founders group met twice a term in Spring, Summer and Autumn 2023 to work on joint projects with support from business mentors and outside speakers.
