Last week The Neumark Foundation was delighted to work with the Social Enterprise Academy through the Social Enterprise Schools Project. On 25 June 2024, five schools and six groups across Denbighshire pitched their impressive social enterprise ideas to an expert panel at the Social Enterprise Schools: Dragons’ Den competition hosted at Christ the Word Catholic School in Rhyl. Participants came from local primary and secondary schools. The programme supports young people to identify an environmental or social issue they want to solve and create a business to make that change happen.
Peter Neumark, our Chair of Trustees, was a corporate mentor and business advisor to the programme, visiting pupils in schools and giving the young entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to learn from his extensive business experience, knowledge, and expertise. Peter said “I was delighted to be a mentor; the teams I met showed a genuine interest in developing their business ideas and a real passion for creating sustainable change through their business practices. It was a pleasure to see their commitment, maturity and passion.”
The panel of ‘dragons’ included Rosalind Williams from The Neumark Foundation. Who said “I am always humbled when listening to young people speak with passion and confidence about their social enterprise and how that will impact a charity or social issue that is important to them. They were all amazing, and every single young person brought the very best of themselves to the event and I hope it has inspired them to go on and develop their ideas with a sense of self confidence that they can achieve anything if given the right opportunity and support.“
The Dragons’ Den event provided an opportunity for pupils to gain professional advice on their social enterprise business ideas. Social enterprise ideas pitched on the day included an anti-food waste social enterprise; upcycling sports clothes initiatives; hand-made hygiene kits for the homeless; a healthy eating business, and an enterprise supporting therapy dogs. The young entrepreneurs honed their public speaking skills and the dragons gained valuable insights into the issues that matter most to the next generation in developing enterprise ideas around several areas including upcycling and circular economies.
“It was so inspiring to bring together these young people to showcase all the hard work they have put in since the beginning of the programme, which started with a set of pupil workshops to establish the social or environmental issue that they feel most passionately about. It was our first Dragons’ Den event in North Wales, and I am so motivated to build on the success of this year and increase the scope of impact we are having within these communities but also within the learners as individuals. They are growing more aware of issues in their communities but also growing more confident that they are able to make a difference and influence change, which is so inspiring to witness. It has been so great working with both Peter and Rosalind as part of Social Enterprise Schools in Rhyl, they have provided fantastic insight and guidance to these young changemakers and I am very grateful to have their support.”
Lewis Scott – Education Manager for the Social Enterprise Academy
