VIDEO: Dry ski slope in Jersey? Why not?

Wednesday 22 March 2017

Ski slopes, tea rooms, spas and nightclubs were just some of the ideas developing in a busy room yesterday, as Beaulieu School held an Enterprise Day for their year 8 students.

The idea was to encourage and develop the female business leaders of tomorrow.

Year 8 Enterprise today. The girls are creating a business brief and presenting this afternoon pic.twitter.com/Y2Fsf3LWiN

— Beaulieu School (@BeaulieuSchool) March 21, 2017

Teams were challenged to come up with a business idea then formulate a pitch, including an advert, product and a t-shirt design to present with a brand and logo during a Dragons' Den style judging panel at the end of the day.

 ‘Surviving the Spectrum’ was the name of one group of young entrepreneurs. They wanted to see a fully equipped indoor ski slope in Jersey and were busy preparing plans for how that could happen.

Speaking about the skills they were learning, one team member commented: “It’s really good and it will help us out as well even if we aren’t doing business.” 

Susan Parker, Head of Business Studies at Beaulieu, was involved in organising the day for students and was pleased with the response from her students.

She said: “It’s really good, I’m really pleased, the girls are really up for it, they are listening and they are taking on board what we are trying to get across. We are trying to promote collaboration, listening to everybody, taking on board other people’s ideas.”

Year 8 student Bridget Le Brocq commented that the day was “really interesting.”

She was part of a group developing an idea for a tea room and spa where they would offer packages for afternoon tea and treatments at their organic spa.

Her group received branding help from UberEdge Dance Company owner, Nikki Zachariou.

Ms Zachariou said: “When I was younger there was never any talk of anything like being a young business owner and I just thought I would go and get a proper job and that would be it. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-twenties that I started my own business.”

It’s good to inspire them to have new ideas and hopefully we’ll create some entrepreneurs in this room. They’ve got some really good ideas, things that have happened in the past that have died out and they want them back, like underage night clubs. They are really good.”

The students received support throughout the day with expert advice on hand from Aztec Jersey, Lloyds Bank International, Thompson Estates, UberEdge Dance Company and Digital Jersey. 

Ms Parker expressed her gratitude to the businesses supporting the event and her students. She said: “It’s really hard, you have to rely on the support of local businesses and all these people have given up their time for us for free and we couldn’t run it without them”