Success was in the cards for young entrepreneurs

10:53am Thursday 3rd July 2008

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YOUNG entrepreneurs who hit on a winning idea to recycle greetings cards were last night crowned champions of a gruelling competition to find the business brains of tomorrow.

The team from Framwellgate School, backed by their mentors from Durham University's Events Durham team, were declared winners of the third annual Future Business Magnates competition, during a ceremony at Ramside Hall Hotel, in Durham City.

After six testing challenges spread over nine months of competition, the pupil's Beekcards business, which recycles then sells on cards for all occasions, was declared the overall winner by a panel of judges.

Framwellgate went into the final round with a 28-point lead over nearest rival Durham Federation, which delivered an impressive performance to win the last challenge, a daunting 20-minute presentation to a Dragon's Den-style panel of judges followed by an intensive 15 minutes of questions.

However, Framwellgate did enough to hold onto the title and was revealed as the overall winner during last night's awards dinner at the hotel.

Dave Turnbull, chairman of the Local Strategic Partnership and one of the competition's founders, said: "I genuinely feel humbled by what I've seen from all the presentations today.

"The skills, research and information that have been put into all the businesses never cease to amaze me.

"I'm sure that any of the projects I've seen today would work in the real world. The entrepreneurial skills of each school give me a good feeling inside for the next generation of business people in Durham."

Fellow judge Barbara Rochester, businesswoman with catering firm 9 Altars, said: "Having heard from the business fraternity in Durham how inspiring Future Business Magnates was, I jumped at the chance to get involved as a judge.

"The professionalism and work from all the teams has surpassed my expectations.

These 12-year-olds are learning things that will not only help them at school, but with life skills in general. I've put my company forward as a mentor for next year."

The competition, which was fought out by nine school teams from across Durham City and Chester-le-Street, is designed to test the business acumen of teams of year eight pupils, supported by school staff and teamed up with mentors from the local business community.

Judges awarded points for research, teamwork, creativity and originality, time management and planning, as well as for overall quality of the entrepreneurial ideas.

Chairman of judges Ron Batty said: "It was a very difficult decision. Overall Framwellgate met every challenge well and the overall concept of what they did was exactly what we were looking for."