Coleg Gwent’s Tom Court (left) with members of the winning ‘Team Cariad’ in Cardiff
Coleg Gwent students have proved themselves to be the entrepreneurs of the future after successfully developing and running their own pop-up shop in one of Cardiff’s iconic shopping destinations.
Five Coleg Gwent students in total from the College’s Crosskeys and Pontypool Campuses took part in the ‘Trading Places’ enterprise competition which aims to help youngsters understand how they can become entrepreneurs.
As the competition progressed in true ‘Apprentice’ style, one Coleg Gwent representative, Tom Court a Level 3 Business student from Pontypool Campus, went on to form part of the winning ‘Team Cariad’ with fellow students from Bridgend College, Cardiff and Vale College, College Merthyr Tydfil, Coleg Y Cymoedd and St David’s College – winning the competition based on overall achievement, effective business management skills and teamwork.
Coleg Gwent’s winner Tom Court, 18 from Croesyceiliog, said: “Working with other students from across the region was a brilliant way of developing the teamwork skills we’d need in a real-life business situation.
“Being able to put the planning and theory into practice increased my confidence and knowledge even further. We were shocked but really happy to win, especially when the judges explained how impressed they were with our overall development.”
After three days of intense competition and preparation, competing students opened a pop-up shop on Thursday 13th February in The Royal Arcade, Cardiff in a race to sell their carefully planned products. Split into six teams with a representative from each college per team, the groups worked hard to sell Valentine’s Day gifts, doubling last year’s total sales figure with an impressive £1,128.88.
Coleg Gwent’s Enterprise Leader Vanessa Janes said:
“The Trading Places competition is an excellent opportunity for students to develop practical experience and to gain confidence in customer service, presentation skills, selling, persuasion and negotiation skills. It is also their chance to enhance their employability skills and UCAS application forms for if they would like to go to University in the future.”
The initiative, which this year was filmed for ITV, was developed by First Campus at the University of South Wales in partnership with the SE Wales FE Enterprise hub, the Morgan Quarter and supported by the Welsh Government’s Big Ideas Wales. Representatives from Business in Focus, NatWest and local business leaders also shared their expertise with students.
Andrew Tummon, Relationship Manager with NatWest Business Banking, said:
“NatWest is working hard to encourage a more entrepreneurial culture in our community, and helping students build their skills and talents in this area is key to this.
“All the students worked tremendously hard over the three days and it was hugely rewarding to work with them as they developed and implemented their business plans.
“It was extremely difficult to choose a winning team but Team Cariad were particularly innovative in the way they developed their business plan and importantly how they adapted their sales strategy and pricing policy as the final day unfolded.”
Tom and members of the winning Team Cariad were each awarded a trophy, a gift voucher and rugby tickets to see Wales v Scotland at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday 15 March. Students will also get the chance to be official flag bearers at the match.
