Highland entrepreneurs of the future pick up awards at regional finals
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The business leaders of the future have been recognised at the Highland and Moray regional finals of the Young Enterprise Scotland Company Programme.
Budding entrepreneurs from Fortrose Academy lifted the top prize of Highland and Moray Company of the Year at the awards ceremony held at the Strathpeffer Pavilion on Tuesday night (March 19).
Trading as Reconnect, the team were recognised for their expertise in designing, producing and selling their colouring books and also won the award for Best Presentation.
Reconnect now go through to the Young Enterprise Scotland national finals in June where teams from the Highlands and Moray have won the top award nine times over the last 16 years, competing against 16 other regions.
Runners up in the overall Company of the Year category were Millburn Academy’s OrbitTech with their range of key chain spinners designed and produced by the team.
Unravel from Culloden Academy picked up awards for Innovation and Best Trade Stand. The team’s Jessica Streeter-Smith also jointly won the Impact Award with Harriet Carmichael from Gordonstoun School’s team Catriona.
Catriona won the award for Best Financial Management with fellow Moray team AquaGlass from Lossiemouth High School taking home the Sustainability and Best Company Report prizes.
Inverness Royal Academy’s Scottish Sprouts won the Marketing and Communications Award and Glen Urquhart High School’s Highland Chains took home the prize for Achievement Through Adversity.
Mallaig High School’s Megan Macleod and Poppy Dennis from team Fois won the Pioneering Leadership Award at the ceremony which was attended by several Highland and Moray-based business leaders who helped judge the awards.
The Young Enterprise Scotland Company Programme for Highland and Moray runs in partnership with local schools to encourage young people to experience the challenges of running a business.
Over the course of a year teams from individual schools learn how to run a successful business by designing and making products, marketing them and managing the financial side. The scheme is aimed at 15- to 19-year-olds and teams are supported by teachers, a volunteer business adviser from the local community, and a Young Enterprise Scotland area team.
Linda Thomas, chairwoman of Young Enterprise Highland and Moray, said: “Our judges had a harder job than ever before this year as every team pulled out all the stops and delivered extraordinary results. The competition was incredibly close run but the tenacity, creativity and sheer hard work shown by all the students who took part in this year’s programme shone though. They all achieved results they thought were impossible at the start of the year and discovered skills they’d never dreamt they had.
“With the new Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport this area is about to undergo a huge jobs revolution. With the skills they learn on the Young Enterprise Company Programme we are certain that our young people are more than ready for the opportunities coming their way.”
