Students from schools and colleges across Yorkshire will converge on Huddersfield this summer for a major business and enterprise competition.
Teams of 16 to 19-year-ols will take part in the Umph! competition to be held on July 1 at the John Smith’s Stadium.
The fourth annul competition is run by a number of business partners as part of the Grant Thornton Educate to Innovate programme.
The event, which was won last year by a team from Grenhead College, has also attracted a line-up of entrepreneurs and inspirational figures who will be available on the day to share with the students their first hand experiences of the ups and downs of starting and running a business.
Those taking part will include Huddersfield Town chairman Dean Hoyle; Nick Glyne, of online retailer Buy It Direct, based at Deighton; Andy Needham, of Blackburn-based Stockley Sweets; and polar explorer Mark Wood.
Teams of students will run their own business using the SimVenture online simulation tool, which will throw up a variety of challenges for them to tackle on the way. The results will then judged. The winning team will be awarded a trophy and each team member will receive an iPad.
Sandar O’Neill, Grant Thornton’s head of business development, said: “Umph! gathers more momentum every year and there is a real buzz among the students and teachers taking part because it’s become recognised as an opportunity not to be missed.
“What’s unique about the contest is that young people are able to meet real-life entrepreneurs from all backgrounds who started and now successfully run their own businesses – and they can learn from them first hand what that experience has been like.
“The face-to-face inspiration that real life entrepreneurs can give them is an invaluable and truly motivational addition to the hard work that they and their teachers do in the classroom.”
Twenty-five schools have already signed up for Umph! 2014. Teams from schools, sixth forms and further education colleges can enter at www.umph.co.uk
Huddersfield Town, SimVenture, commercial law firm Bond Dickinson, Kirklees Council and Huddersfield University are also supporting this year’s Umph!
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