A TEAM from Greenhead College has won this year’s Umph! business and enterprise competition.
The four-strong team of A-level business studies students – Zhi Hui Zhao, Saakshi Barman, Chris Gibson and Ben Bentley – triumphed in the annual contest, which took place at Huddersfield’s John Smith’s Stadium .
They beat more than 100 contestants from sixth forms and colleges across Yorkshire to win the award.
Contestants were asked to make business decisions about a “virtual” business using SimVenture business simulation software.
They also gave presentations and were tested on their business knowledge by a panel of experts which included business advisers from organiser Grant Thornton. Specialists from law firm Bond Dickinson, Huddersfield University, Huddersfield Town Football Club and Fantastic Media were also on the judging panel.
During the day-long competition, contestants received input and advice in workshop sessions from 12 entrepreneurs from the region, including Town chairman and Card Factory founder Dean Hoyle and Huddersfield-based entrepreneur Nick Glynne, founder of online retailer BuyItDirect.
Winning team member Zhi Hui Zhao said: “We are learning about the theory and the academic side of business on our course at college, but meeting the entrepreneurs, who have started businesses from scratch and made a success of them, was truly inspirational.
“As well as giving us a much better idea of how business actually works in real life, I think it has also given us a clearer ambition that running a business is something that we could all aspire to do ourselves.”
Sandra O’Neill, Umph! organiser and head of business development at Grant Thornton, said: “It’s great to see so many bright young people with a passion for business. ” The Greenhead team had clearly picked up a lot of useful pointers from the entrepreneurs here on the day and were able to put those into practice when it came to creating a successful business using the SimVenture software.”
She said: “Entrepreneurial skills are vital to employers and to Yorkshire’s economy as a whole, but too many youngsters leave education without an awareness and understanding of business and innovation – despite the best efforts of some fantastic, forward thinking teachers.
“We are enthusiastic about forging closer links between business and education and instilling in young people an enthusiasm for business that can’t be generated in the classroom.
“We want schools and colleges to look outward and work more closely with local businesses and for businesses to think about how they can interact with schools.”
The runners-up in the competition behind Greenhead College were Allerton High School in Leeds and Brooksbank School, Elland .
