Wycombe Abbey Pupils named Overall Winners of the National Tycoon Enterprise Competition
28 September 2023 - All
Over the past year, seven Lower Sixth teams from Wycombe Abbey took part in the Tycoon Enterprise Competition run by the Peter Jones Foundation. Each participating team prepared a business plan to bid for start-up funding and then, once successful, used the capital to start their business, trading over six weeks and supported by our amazing business mentors.
At the end of the trading period, all teams submitted their accounts, detailing profits made and reflections on their Tycoon journey. One of our teams, Anectote, was invited to the Finalists Awards Ceremony at Hampton Court Palace on Thursday 21 September.
Not only was Anectote awarded winner of their age category, but they went on to win Overall Winners of Tycoon 2023. In addition to their trophies, they received £1000 to reinvest in their company. The team said ‘We were really excited to be announced as champions at the National Tycoon Enterprise competition. The process was incredibly enjoyable, and we learnt so much from the experience. We knew we had a great product with a lot of potential but were still shocked when we were announced as the overall winners! A special thanks must go to Mrs Kiln who helped us throughout the process and the whole DT Department as they let us use the heat press machine to produce our bags. We would also like to thank our business mentor and Wycombe Abbey Senior Jo Hilditch (C147, Airlie, 1981) for her invaluable support and advice throughout the competition.’
Anectote produced and sold sustainable tote bags. They sourced materials from a local UK company to make sure they were environmentally friendly and ethical. They wanted to promote a simple, yet high quality and durable product to raise awareness of sustainability. The team realised everyone at School had similar tote bags and so spotted a gap in the market to create a functional and customisable product that offered customers a way to express their creativity. The team made an impressive profit of £3,852, which was an amazing effort. To further their positive cycle of change and promote awareness of sustainability, they decided to donate half of their profits to the Friends of the Earth charity and further 30% to the Peter Jones Foundation.
This award is an incredible achievement for the team and School is extremely proud of their of entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to sustainability.
Mrs Alison Kiln
Head of Economics and Enterprise
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