Wigan & Leigh College Students grilled by Dragons for Global Entrepreneurship Week

Today marks the beginning of Global Entrepreneurship Week, a worldwide movement encouraging millions of people to unleash their enterprising talents.

Enterprise Week was launched in the UK in 2004, and last year it became part of a wider global event – Global Entrepreneurship Week – with more than 87 countries now signed up to take part. Supported by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, this year’s event highlights the crucial role that entrepreneurs and their ideas will play in driving economic recovery.

More than 70,000 young people are taking part in the Make Your Mark Challenge, an enterprise competition that this year has been designed to reflect low carbon considerations.

Two teams of Wigan & Leigh College students have just been told they have made it through to the regional stage of the competition, after pitching innovative ideas to a Dragons’ Den style panel. The winning team in the UK will fly to Belgrade, in Serbia, for the Skills@Work Challenge international final.

“Both teams presented two viable business ideas which are actually very different. The presentations were well structured and a great deal of thought has gone into the pitches. The students showed a lot of enthusiasm and confidence when presenting. I look forward to reading about the success of each,” said Melanie Bryan, a consulting director and one of the Dragons.

Stephanie Mawdsley, a member of the Level 3 Business Administration team, which wants to create a college magazine giving businesses the opportunity to promote their products and services, said: “The dragons were really friendly and gave us lots of great feedback. We can’t wait to get started on the magazine.”

The Entry level Hairdressing student’s business proposal was to sell a gift bag, containing a memory jar and a selection of glittering pens, with the money raised going to charity.

“We really enjoyed the experience even though we were nervous at first. The judges were really nice and give us lots of ideas,” said Entry level Hairdressing student Amy Simm.

Global Entrepreneurship Week runs from 16 November to 22 November, and is co-founded by Enterprise UK, formally Make Your Mark, in the UK and the Kauffman Foundation in the US.