Young Entrepreneurs Paint Bright Future
The next generation of young entrepreneurs from Longridge Towers School near Berwick are hard at work. As part of the HSBC Young Enterprise Scheme, student business Tower & Co will launch their unique range of hand crafted canvas prints at the Longridge Christmas Fayre on December 4th.
The HSBC Young Enterprise Scheme is designed to give secondary school pupils a real taste of how it feels to work in a business. Pupils create a business and are then responsible for its day-to-day operations including sales, marketing and finance. Lead by Managing Director Jamie Faed, the prints were the result of some heated brainstorming and positive feedback from fellow pupils. Buyers can choose from Tower & Co's own designs, a print created from their favourite photo or a paint your own option for younger children.
Jamie is hoping that the prints will be a roaring success at the school fayre where Tower & Co. have a stall. He explains, "We hope that our prints will catch the eyes of shoppers; the canvas prints on wooden frames are perfect for hanging in homes and offices and make great Christmas presents. After the Fayre, canvases will be displayed around school for sale and we will also target other development association and school events."
Tower & Co has 14 directors who all have their own particular role ranging from Managing Director to ICT specialists. Jamie was selected as Managing Director by Head of Sixth Form Helen Notman with input from the team. His role will be to hold regular meetings to steer the project, discuss ideas and overcome any problems. Tower & Co will also benefit from the input of Richard Simpson from McCreath Simpson and Prentice. He acts as the company's business advisor and attends meetings to share his experience from the working world with the pupils.
As well as the challenge of developing a successful business, Tower & Co have strong precedent to follow. Last year's school team TQ Clothing won an award for Best Creative Product in the North East and beat 40 other school teams to win a place in the Northern finals of the competition. Tower & Co's ambitious board are hoping to equal if not better this result.