Young Enterprise
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Young Enterprise is a national organisation founded in 1963. It helps young people between the ages of 15 and 19 set up and run their own company for a year with the help of a link teacher and a business adviser.
Students elect a board of directors and raise capital by selling shares. Their company may make a product, supply value-added to something they have bought in or offer a service. At the end of their year the pupils have to liquidate the company, pay dividends to their shareholders and company taxes to Young Enterprise.
Between 60-70 students from Yr 12 take part in Young Enterprise each year and for the last five years, North London Collegiate School has had three companies. All of these have been successful in local competitions and further afield, with several travelling to the National Trade Fair at Stratford-upon-Avon where there are regularly 100 companies taking part.
In 2003, Scribble was runner-up at Stratford-upon-Avon and participated in the first international trade fair in Oslo where their acrylic scribble pads won Most Innovative Product.
In 2005, Cocktail became the first North London Young Enterprise Company to reach the UK Final. Ranked among the top ten in the UK, Cocktail won the Marketing Award supported by Nestle Waters Powwow for showing exceptional performance in marketing its company and products.
In 2006, Zen Enterprise won through to the London Regional Final, so NLCS had a representative in that round of the competition for the second successive year. One of the directors of Zen Enterprise won the individual Deutsche Bank Scholarship Award. This company also used acrylic to make the Zen stand which the girls described as an advanced desk tidy, a computer document holder, a food and drinks holder or a dry wipe board!
An important feature of the Young Enterprise company scheme is the role played by the business adviser appointed to offer help and advice to the achievers. We are extremely fortunate to have had several parents and family friends give their time voluntarily in this capacity and the girls have benefited from the wealth of experience they can tap into and the insight they have gained into business practices. At the end of the year they are amazed at what they have learned by doing, the team working skills and confidence gained through running meetings and making presentations. They always say that, in spite of all the hard work, Young Enterprise is fun!
NLCS Young Enterprise company represents the London region in the UK Final
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