Sunday 28 January saw Expandly attend the 2017/18 Young Enterprise trade fair in Central Milton Keynes; the grand finale of an educational year.

Young Enterprise

Young Enterprise is an enterprise and financial educational charity, based here in the UK. Working annually with over 250,000 schoolchildren, they aim to bridge the gap between school and work (which we all know can be hard) by teaching valuable skills such as:

– Communication – Confidence – Financial Capability – Initiative – Organisation – Problem-solving – Teamwork – Resilience –

Company Programme

The Company Programme enables students to experience life setting up and running a company – from naming it, right through to selling at a Sunday’s trade fair. 35 student companies braved Milton Keynes’ shopping centre in January (the toughest month) to sell products, ranging from photos to money-box frames, and services, from job boards to mental health support.

Expandly Support

Expandly CEO, Alan Wilson, was invited to attend the trade fair as a judge and adviser to the budding entrepreneurs and was thoroughly impressed by what he saw:

“It is so good to see such youthful enthusiasm, coupled with some excellent business ideas. The skills that YE gives to these youngsters is invaluable so we are really happy to support the event.”

Best Product

Alan was tasked with judging the best product category and after much deliberating, he narrowed the final three down to (drum roll please):
3rd Dynasty from Ken Stimpson Community School

Dynasty produced a series of educational fun books. They knew their market and were already expanding their range, which helped them to achieve third place.
2nd Card Dog from Aylesbury Grammar School

An anti-card skimming device, this product was innovative as well as useful and the team had excellent margins and product awareness.

1st – Teens Meet Jobs from Walton High

A job board just for teens, this group were awarded first place for their ability to identify and fill a gap in the market. They understood their customer and their requirements to accurately target the market and produce good ideas for growth.

Overall Winner

Alan was then delighted to present the overall winner, Card Dog, with their trophy.

Congratulations to all that took part.