Student business smarts

The next big startup business from Marlborough may have just got started thanks to eager students, as part of this year’s Young Enterprise Scheme.

The Young Enterprise Scheme Pitch Day saw business studies students speak with a variety of different Marlborough businesspeople to talk through business ideas, spot opportunities and question strategies ahead of a year of product development.

This year’s pitch day saw a wide-ranging amount of ideas, including AI learning assistance tools, boutique compost and charcuterie boards, and pottery art with a touch of Marlborough in each piece.

“Our community’s real-life business experience is invaluable at this stage in their business plan, and without YES, we wouldn’t be able to pull something like this together”, says Marlborough Girls College business studies teacher Surrey Collett.

“Students and coaches come away buzzing from the day because it allows for many different developments in their plans, whether it’s a new target market or a complete redesign of their business plan.

“The scheme’s competitive nature and money up for grabs help get students interested, but the soft skills of business – pitching, networking, task delegation etc – are so valuable”.

For YES’s Trina Zimmerman, Marlborough’s business community and their eagerness to support students is astounding.

“I’m always impressed by Marlborough’s business community and how consistently generous with their time for the YES scheme they are, because they understand the value of growing young people’s entrepreneurship skills.

“This year, we pushed the pitch day back a few weeks, so teams have been able to bring more concrete ideas to bounce off our coaches. After having ReFloat last year win the regional competition and go to nationals, students and business coaches have been especially eager this year with a few groups coming back for their second year with prior knowledge, but fresh ideas, which is encouraging”.

Brian Dawson from Angel Investors Marlborough was impressed by the groups he spoke with.

“The groups were well organised and had really engaging advanced business questions about product design, market research, distribution and business scalability, which means they’re going to be able to make more informed decisions going forward with their ideas. “It shows me there’s plenty of innovation and business potential in the minds of Marlborough’s young people, and it’s up to us in the business community to help nurture that”.