Green students thrown into the Dragon’s Den

Jun 27 2009 by Steve Catchpool, Hudd Sat

ECO-friendly valley school students were thrown into the Dragon’s Den last Friday – but came out smiling.

A group of Huddersfield New College students were out and about in the Colne Valley visiting low carbon and environmentally aware businesses and considering the advantages and challenges of self-employment.

Twenty-one A-level students spent the morning visiting two local businesses – the Green Building Store and Andel – both highly successful in the crucial emerging field of green technology.

In the afternoon, after watching a short film about being self-employed, the students split into groups to work-up a business idea which they then ‘pitched’ to four ‘dragons’ – Ian Pogson from Andel, Bill Butcher from the Green Building Store, Rupert Shires from Business Link and Victoria Minton from Common Purpose.

The competition was organised by the Marsden and Slaithwaite Renaissance Team, who are developing ideas as part of the Yorkshire Forward’s Renaissance Market Towns programme, launched in 2002 to help the development of sustainable small towns in Yorkshire and the Humber.

A key part of the Renaissance Team’s work is the development of The Green Valley Initiative. This includes a new environmental technology innovation centre which, it is hoped, will be based in the valley. The Renaissance Team and Kirklees Council are in the process of securing premises for the centre.

The Dragon’s Den project was designed to draw attention to this pioneering initiative by giving the student group a taste of two green businesses already working successfully in the valley.The competition was staged in Slaithwaite Community Centre. on Bank Gate.Bill Butcher, said: “I was impressed by how the students got their ideas together in only an hour and a half and by the way they stood up and talked. They really made me sit up and listen.’Victoria Minton said: “‘This is a great way to give young people the chance to test their ideas. We ‘Dragons’ genuinely struggled to come up with a winner.”Jean Margetts, from the Marsden and Slaithwaite Renaissance Town Team said: ‘The students clearly really enjoyed themselves. They worked hard and took it seriously. The winning team proposed making ‘Envirotents’ out of recycled plastics – drinks bottles, for example. The tents would be made in East Africa, providing much needed employment, and used in disaster zones as temporary shelters.”Camilla Govan from the Marsden and Slaithwaite Renaissance Town Team said: ‘The ‘Dragons’ were really inspiring and hard-hitting. They gave excellent introductory speeches on what was best about running your own business.But we were all really impressed by how the students grasped the idea of an environmental business and by the extent to which they managed to produce thought-through proposals in such a short space of time. I can imagine several of them starting their own businesses in the future.”Comments from the students:“The visits were really interesting, both Bill (Butcher) and Ian (Pogson) were great at making it relevant and interesting for us.”‘We were worried we wouldn’t have any ideas but we worked together really well to come up with something’.‘The ‘Dragons’ were great. They asked some serious questions but made us feel like we had worked well.”pioneering initiative by giving the student group a taste of two green businesses already working successfully in the valley.

The competition was staged in Slaithwaite Community Centre. on Bank Gate.

Bill Butcher, said: “I was impressed by how the students got their ideas together in only an hour and a half and by the way they stood up and talked. They really made me sit up and listen.’

Victoria Minton said: “‘This is a great way to give young people the chance to test their ideas. We ‘Dragons’ genuinely struggled to come up with a winner.”

Jean Margetts, from the Marsden and Slaithwaite Renaissance Town Team said: ‘The students clearly really enjoyed themselves. They worked hard and took it seriously. The winning team proposed making ‘Envirotents’ out of recycled plastics – drinks bottles, for example. The tents would be made in East Africa, providing much needed employment, and used in disaster zones as temporary shelters.”

Camilla Govan from the Marsden and Slaithwaite Renaissance Town Team said: ‘The ‘Dragons’ were really inspiring and hard-hitting. They gave excellent introductory speeches on what was best about running your own business.

But we were all really impressed by how the students grasped the idea of an environmental business and by the extent to which they managed to produce thought-through proposals in such a short space of time. I can imagine several of them starting their own businesses in the future.”

Comments from the students:

“The visits were really interesting, both Bill (Butcher) and Ian (Pogson) were great at making it relevant and interesting for us.”

‘We were worried we wouldn’t have any ideas but we worked together really well to come up with something’.

‘The ‘Dragons’ were great. They asked some serious questions but made us feel like we had worked well.”