28 July 2021

A fiver to build a business - thousands of Welsh primary school children take on entrepreneurial challenge

Welsh primary school children put their entrepreneurial flair to the test by taking on a challenge organised by the UK’s leading enterprise charity and Wales’ largest building society.

The Fiver Challenge, run by Young Enterprise and funded in Wales by Principality, asked primary school pupils to create, research and plan a business with just £5. Over 3,000 pupils across Wales took part in the enterprise programme , which ran from June – July, allowing the young people involved to develop their creativity, commercial awareness and money management skills.

The challenge included a competition element, which saw school pupils from St Andrews Major in Dinas Powys and Ysgol Sant Dunawd in Wrexham take home the awards, which included Best Logo, Best Sales Pitch and Best Welsh Business.

Team ‘Seed Squad’ (pictured above) from year four at St Andrews Major were awarded the Best Welsh Business award for their sustainable plant pot business, which used recycled newspapers and compost to make sunflower plant pots for sale. The judges at Principality and Young Enterprise were impressed by their business proposal and sales pitch, which showcased a sustainable business idea, as well as demonstrating the market research and planning put into the proposal and a good understanding of profit and loss.

From Ysgol Sant Dunawd in Wrexham, Team ‘ Wood You Like’ received the Best Logo award for their creative design, which fit the judging criteria of being memorable as well as showcasing their business.

Rhys from Rhys’ Ring Pulls was awarded the Best Sales Pitch, for his business idea which recycled ring pulls from drink cans into bracelets, with the profits being donated to hospice charity Marie Curie and Chirk Court Care Home, who cared for Rhys’ grandad. For the competition element, Rhys pitched his idea in a 60 second video to judges, with the purpose of the pitch to be able to attract potential investors. Rhys also received the Best Sales Pitch award in the UK wide competition.

Each winner will also receive an iPad from Principality.

Jenny Bush, Teacher at St Andrews Major said: “The Fiver Challenge is a great opportunity for young children to gain an insight into planning and running their own businesses in the future. Our pupils learnt so many skills during the project such as working as a team, leadership skills and understanding profit and loss. They really enjoyed the whole process, including the market research, designing their logos, writing their proposals and pitching their ideas. We are so proud of them for working so hard and coming up with excellent business ideas, which focused on protecting the environment.’’

As the sponsor of Fiver Challenge in Wales for three years, Principality provided funding allowing Young Enterprise to bring the challenge to Wales on a larger scale and in the Welsh language. Since 2019, the Society has worked with partners such as Young Money and Young Enterprise to reach 48,000 children and young people with financial education and careers based learnings.

Vicky Wales, Chief Customer Officer at Principality Building Society said: “As a member-owned organisation, we are passionate about helping young people to build their life skills, which includes supporting hard working schools with financial education and careers-based activities. We were blown away by the entries from across Wales this year. It was clear there was a real focus on sustainability and protecting our environment in their business ideas, as well as giving back to the local community. No doubt we are seeing our future entrepreneurs here.’’

Sharon Davies, Chief Executive, Young Enterprise said: “This three year partnership between Principality and Young Enterprise to run the Fiver Challenge in Wales provides such an important opportunity for young people to develop vital financial capability and enterprise skills. We were so impressed by the resourcefulness, creativity, and innovation exhibited by the all the young people this year, especially during what has been such a challenging year.  Starting early is critical, if we are to shape young people’s aspirations of what they can achieve and help them develop the enterprising mind sets they’ll need to build positive futures.’’

The Fiver Challenge is set to launch again in September 2021, with schools having the flexibility to pick when they run the challenge in class throughout the academic year.

To find out more, visit www.fiverchallenge.org.uk

Published: 28/07/2021