Wenta ‘dragon’ fires student team to success in charity enterprise challenge.
Last week marked the culmination of the 2015 - 2016 Dragon’s Apprentice Challenge. 9 teams of local students managed to raise over £34,000 for charity by using enterprising and innovative business ideas.
Students from across Hertfordshire were challenged with turning £100 into £1000 or more for their nominated charity. Each student team of apprentices were paired with a mentor – their own business ‘dragon’ who would provide support, guidance and direction.
This year the winners were team Cornucopia who truly lived up to their name after raising over £11,000 for their charity of choice, DRUM. The team’s earning contributed a staggering 32% of the money raised by the 9 teams during the challenge.
The team from Parmiter’s School were recognised at the end-of-challenge award ceremony, where they were crowned winners as well as picking up four other accolades for teamwork, learning, management and the ‘innovation and entrepreneurship’ category.
Team Cornucopia partnered with business dragon, Spencer Tagg, Managing Director of Wenta Business Centres, who said: “At Wenta we strive every day to inspire innovation in our clients. The fantastic success that Cornucopia demonstrated was a real achievement that demonstrated our mantra at Wenta and is something every one of the team members can be proud of.”
Team Cornucopia managed to raise over £11,000 over 6 months by organising a number of events which included cake sales, selling hoodies for school trips, serving Christmas lunches, various raffles and bucket shaking outside supermarkets. The team’s biggest and most successful event was a fashion show, where over 400 items of clothes were donated and then modelled by over 30 students and teachers, which resulted in nearly £5,000 being raised during one event.
Spencer summed up the achievement by commenting:
“I was extremely proud to work with Team Cornucopia, a group of fine young adults from Parmiter’s School. I take my hat off to the team, as my contribution was dwarfed by the drive, commitment and entrepreneurial spirit of the team to raise this amount of money. In addition, I was humbled to learn about all the good work being achieved by Sarah and the team at DRUM Watford, a huge well done to every one of the team, they truly deserve it.”
Cornucopia’s money will be donated to DRUM, the Disability Recreation Unity Movement. DRUM are based in Watford and provide day services and support to adults with physical and/ or sensory disabilities. These can include art, crafts, drama, yoga and many more. These activities are vital, not only to the participants, but also to their carers who often rely on these few hours per week for their peace of mind. DRUM proudly supports over 100 unpaid carers. Donate to DRUM today at www.drum.btck.co.uk.
Follow Spencer Tagg on twitter @SpencerTagg.
Find out more about Wenta Business Centres at www.wentabusinesscentres.co.uk or follow them @TheWentaGroup.