An innovative company created by Loughborough College students has scooped three awards from UK Young Enterprise.
Alicia Griffiths, Emmanuella Taiwo, Fathi Hassan, Promise Soleye, and Roshni Mistry were announced as winners not only of the Business Sustainability Award and the Team Work Award but they were also presented with the Ron Miles Memorial Award for having the most amount of fun in business at the 2019 Company Programme regional finals.
The Loughborough College sixth form students pitched from their own Bright Elephant company trade stand and a packed audience heard directly from the group about the development of their environmentally friendly dry car wash method.
“The students came up with the idea for cleaning a car which would not require water, for the car to be driven anywhere or for the engine to be left running – not only saving water but also avoiding carbon emissions,” said Marcia Cameron, sixth form academic tutor at Loughborough College.
“They were then supported by the College throughout the academic year as they assigned each other roles in the business, researched the market, developed relationships with suppliers, opened a bank account, created a logo, website and social media channels and even officially registered the company. Their business advisor Malcolm Graham also attended their company meetings to observe and offer feedback.
“The students thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of setting up their own business. For the students studying business it was really helpful for them to put their book knowledge into practice – and all of them benefited from boosting the time management and people skills which are so vital in the workplace and in life.
“We were very proud to see their work acknowledged by the judges with so many awards and the students were all thrilled. They can’t wait to get Bright Elephant up and running. Once they have finished their A-levels I am sure they will be touting for business at Loughborough College!”
Pictured: UK Young Enterprise triple award success for Loughborough College students (from left) Promise Soleye, Roshni Mistry, Emmanuella Taiwo, Alicia Griffiths, Fathi Hassan