Bronwyn Wilson Qualifies in Bookeeping

Determined to understand the financial side of business, young entrepreneur Bronwyn Wilson, 16, has become the youngest person in the UK to successfully complete the new Level 2 IAB/Sage Computerised Accounting for Business QCF qualification. The training was delivered by Golding Computer Services, an IAB (International Association of Bookkeepers) Accredited Training Centre.

Bronwyn Wilson said
“From having no experience of accounts I now have the knowledge to run the financial side of my business and the confidence to take Crazy Critter World to another level. I can’t believe how easy it is to use the Sage Accounts program to keep track of my finances.”


Charles Cracknell, Youth Enterprise Manager at Hull Training, commented, “Hull Training and the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank were pleased to support this project and I am delighted that Bronwyn has achieved this qualification. Financial training for young entrepreneurs is often not available and this is an innovative way of equipping them for the future.”

Vic Golding said, “It is a major achievement for Bronwyn to attain a Level 2 QCF qualification at the age of 16, as the Government target is to achieve a Level 2 qualification by the age of 19!”

Hull’s Young Entrepreneur of Year 2011

Claughtons. Hull Training and the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank, the organisers of Hull Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2011, are pleased to announce that from a shortlist of nine young people west Hull based entrepreneur Bronwyn Wilson (16) was announced by Gerard Toplass Managing Director of Claughton’s as Hull’s Young Entrepreneur of Year 2011 at the end of week Global entrepreneurship week 2011 celebration held at Staff House.

Gerard Toplass, Managing Director of Claughtons said:
"I chose to sponsor this award, because I am personally very committed to helping young entrepreneurs deliver on their potential. I feel that very often we identify potential but then don't follow through sufficiently, therefore, unlike normal award schemes where the winners receive recognition and a glass trophy; I wanted to give the winner some real tangible help. All the shortlisted candidates were excellent, though at the end of the day we had to choose a winner and Bronwyn is a worthy one."


Bronwyn Wilson MD Crazy Critter World said
“I am honored to be selected to be Hull’s Young Entrepreneur of Year 2011 following in the footsteps of Dave Garbera and Amanda Hartley, I am looking forward to working with Gerard and his team at Claughton’s as well as promoting the entrepreneurial dream to the young people of Hull as well as promoting all the great work that goes on in the city of Hull such as the Badgers sett Enterprise Challenge that I won last year.”


Councilor Steven Bayes, Portfolio Holder for Economic Regeneration & Employment said:
“Bronwyn will now act as the City's Youth Enterprise Ambassador for 12 months and will be invited to participate in a range of business and enterprise activities as well as speaking at events in Global Entrepreneurship Week 2011, she is a real credit to the city and I am looking forward to hearing more about her work in the future.”

"It is great news that Gerard Toplass and Claughtons are prepared to invest nearly £20,000 work of support over a year in supporting Bronwyn as Hull's Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 and clearly shows their commitment to supporting the City's enterprising young people. This is putting CSR into practice whilst also helping our enterprising young people”



NB
1. Claughtons have created the following package worth up to £20,000 to the young person and their business:
* Rent Free of Charge for 12 months at their offices in Melton

* Support towards their marketing campaign

* Full access to senior management at Claughtons for mentoring / support / assistance

* Gerard Toplass, Managing Director at Claughtons, will act as a non-executive Director / Chairman to provide assistance to the winning company

2. John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank will give her during the year £500 towards her business and give her opportunities to promote her work both locally and nationally.

Secondary Schools GEW 2011 in Hull

Young people from Hull secondary schools attended an Entrepreneurship Masterclass and pupils from Hessle High School. The Masterclass is designed to challenge young people to think about starting their own business as a career and becoming an entrepreneur. This is achieved by introducing the young people to local role models, as well as inspiring them through presentations, activities and discussion centred on their own life experiences, vision and achievements. The event began with a welcome by BBC presenter Blair Jacobs who outlined what the event was about and talked about the importance young people play in the future of the city of Hull. As an ice breaker the students had to build a free standing tower out of string, spaghetti and tape and place marshmallow on the top the winning team were given a small prize from Hull Ready.The first inspiration of the day was provided by the day’s main guest speaker, international business woman and runner up in the BBC Apprentice series Ruth Badger who focused on the importance of having the right attitude in business and in life. During her presentation Ruth praised the city’s young people for their enterprising attitudes, in particular those that she had met whilst judging the Badger’s Sett Enterprise Challenge the night before.

As proof of this, the young people then heard from a variety of young local entrepreneurs including Hull’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 Amanda Hartley of Amanda’s Blue Orchid, Ethan Gibson Impression 11 who set up business whilst still at College and Phil Benson of Xing Health told how discovering ‘smoothies’ had provided the inspiration to develop their business. All of these young entrepreneurs had received funding for their businesses from the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank.

By the afternoon, it was time to put some of the ideas from the morning’s presentations into practice. They were asked to develop a marketing concept for a random object given to them and to pitch this to the Badger’s Sett. Each group had 45 minutes to come up with the name of the product, the retail cost and suitable marketing material. It was then time to present to panel chair Ruth Badger and her fellow judges




The Badger’s Sett judges were:

Nick Hildyard Joint MD Arco
Sarah Longthorn  Founder Wedgewelly
Phil Vozza Managing Director NPS Humber
Ruth Badger
Cllr Helene O'Mullane Portfolio Holder Children Services
Richard Duxbury, Deputy Managing Director, Mail News & Media

Six teams were identified to present to the Badger’s Sett, with Ruth and her Badgers giving each team a real grilling before retiring to make their deliberations. Top of the pile came Olympic Fan Band from Hessle High School who won £500 donated by Arco. Second place, and £250 courtesy of NPS- Humber went to Dynamic Ring – Malet Lambert School whilst behind them came Ear Sport Probe from Andrew Marvell Business Enterprise College who won £150 donated by Hull FC Foundation Fourth and fifth spots went to Mexi wave from Trinity House School and Your Olympic Dream from Newland High School for Girls respectively, with i Blah of St Mary’s College taking sixth place. These three prizes of £100 worth of vouchers were donated by Tigers Trust, Force-7 and the University of Hull.

At the end of the event, all teachers, students and business volunteers were asked to complete an evaluation, the results of which clearly showed that the event had been a success. Teachers in particular felt that the event had significantly developed students’ enterprise capabilities as set out in Hull’s Big 13 Enterprise Skills.

Supporter Perspectives of GEW 2011 in Hull

“Being an entrepreneur can be daunting, exciting, exhausting and, if you’re successful, rewarding in equal measure. The excellent programme at the Global Entrepreneurship Week 211 in Hull  gave young people the information and inspiration to make their journey less daunting and more likely to succeed.” Richard Myers
MD HWS Hosting
“Mail News & Media was once again proud to be a major supporter of Global Entrepreneurship Week. Encouraging young people to be innovative, creative and passionate, whilst providing them with the skills and understanding of running a business is key to a talented and ambitious future workforce.”
Rachael Austin
Mail News and Media

I strongly believe that such events held in Global Entrepreneurship Week not only help to foster an entrepreneurial spirit amongst all young people but also encourage school and college leavers to acquire the necessary skills to make them attractive propositions to a future employer.”

Nicholas Hildyard DL FCA
Joint Managing Director, Arco Ltd

“I wish to congratulate Hull Youth Enterprise Partnership, and all the young people who took part in yet another successful Global Entrepreneurship Week. It is very exciting to know that young people are getting opportunities such as this, which will help build their skills and confidence for a bright future.”
Di Garbera
Golding Computer Services Ltd
“More than anything young people need to have aspirations which come from inspirational leadership. Global Entrepreneurship Week exposes them to some great leaders and encourages them to stand on others’ shoulders to be able to look further, I was sorry to miss it this year but followed the activities via twitter, facebook and youtube.”
Dave Garbera
Managing Director, KH Smilers Ltd and Garbera Enterprise Ltd

“The East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire Co-operative Committee was delighted to support this exciting initiative. The Society and its family of businesses have a long association with enterprise around the world and hopes that Global Entrepreneurship Week in Hull will go onto to inspire young people to become more enterprising, especially next year which is International Year of Co-operation – I fully enjoyed my time in Hull at the primary event.”
Suzanne Moulson
Vice Chair East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire Co-operative Committee
“Global Entrepreneurship Week is an excellent opportunity to showcase just how enterprising young people are in the region. What is fantastic about Hull City Council’s approach to the week is to celebrate and promote enterprise for young people from every walk of life and from any age.”
Jane Walton
Policy Director
YES Ltd
“I love visiting Hull as it is an enterprising city. I really enjoy sharing my journey with young budding entrepreneurs who really want to make a difference in the business world. I hope my visit helps to encourage the next breed of business success that the city boast and I am looking forward to coming back to Hull in the near future.”
Ruth Badger
International Business Consultant
“I was extremely honoured to be invited back for a second year to take part in Hull’s Global Entrepreneurship Week, and I am very impressed with the work that takes place in Hull  and the city’s vision for young people in your area! I enjoyed last year so much that as soon as I was approached about this year’ celebrations I said ‘yes’ straight away and I have enjoyed the event that I have participated in.
Claire Young

“We have been involved with youth enterprise in Hull for the past four years and are really impressed with everything that the team does. There are lots of different opportunities available for young people in Hull and we decided that this year we wanted yet again be a major sponsor of Global Entrepreneurship Week in the city and to commit our support for the next two years, as St. Stephen’s are committed to helping our local economy grow and prosper for the benefit of our young people.”
Jim Harris
Manager, St Stephen’s Centre
“Global Entrepreneurship Week is one of the most important date in Hull’s economic development diary. It is a celebration about everything that is fresh, energetic, creative and vital that underpins ‘enterprise’, a word that is central to Hull’s economic strategy – there is no doubt that Global Entrepreneurship Week 211 was truly inspiring.”
Mark Jones
Head of Economic Development and Regeneration,
Hull City Council

“This was the first time Wedgewelly has taken part fully  in Global Entrepreneurship Week and we didn’t know what to expect. We needn’t have worried as it was a fabulous week and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute. It was eye opening to see how enterprising the young people of Hull are and it was a pleasure to be involved with them all. I would encourage other businesses to support these events and to assist in any way they can. This is definitely the way forward for Hull as these young people are our future entrepreneurs and supporting them makes business sense. We look forward to participating in other events throughout next year and Global Entrepreneurship Week 2012 is on our calendar!”
Sarah Longthorn
Owner, Wedgewelly

“Durban Ltd has been proud to work alongside Hull Youth Enterprise for this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week. Having been a supporter of the event over the past seven years. It has been inspiring to hear about the enterprising activities that young people of our city have been passionately working on. It’s important to give these children real insight and practical skills for all aspects of working in and running a business. Hull has become a vibrant city and it’s important we encourage and promote entrepreneurship.”
Maureen Foers
Managing Director, Durban Ltd

“This was the first year I have attended Global Entrepreneurship Week in Hull all the young people had great ideas and spoke with such confidence. You could tell that it was a change from being at school and that the teams enjoyed the opportunity to think outside the box and put the things they learn everyday in the classroom into practice and challenging the invited audience to be enterprisuing”
Louis Coiffait,
Pearson Centre for Policy and Learning
This was the first year I have attended Global Entrepreneurship Week and was very impressed with what I saw and soon realised I was not the only young entrepreneur in Hull striving to develop a business. I understand that promoting the economic well-being and increasing skills and educational attainment are the twin aims for the city over the next en years. There is doubt in my mind we will achieve this through activities that take place every day of the week that are than celebrated in Global Entrepreneurship Week, I am looking forward to next years activities already.”
Josh Wilson,
Owner Heista Fuels

“ I was sorry to have missed this years events in Global Entrepreneurship Week in Hull but I was called away on business however I kept up-todate on what was happening during the week and look forward to coming back next year. Hull is an inspirational place and its young people are the most inspirational of them all.”
Abhimanyu Kundasamy,
His Excellency The High Commissioner of Mauritius

GEW 2011 Celebration Event - Hull

At Hull's GEW celebration evening theld on Friday 18th November at Staff House at the University of Hull we raised over £600 in an auction for signed shirts from HKR, Hull FC and Hull City AFC, and with the Hull City Shirt came two executive seats for Hull City v Millwall match donated by Gerard Toplass. Over £500 was raised in the raffle and over £300 for the table decorations all of which will go to the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank.
Awards were presented by Cllr Danny Brown Deputy Lord Mayor to William Jacksons Food Group, NPS Humber, Claughtons, The Co-operative, Xuro Computers, City Works, Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce , KC , Hull FC Act the Facts for supporting Hull’s enterprising young people.

Also the following were awarded


Hull’s most enterprising teacher – Stephen Logan of Malet Lambert School
Hull’s most enterprising school – Victoria Dock
Hull business done most to support enterprise education in Hull HWS Hosting

Finally Gerard Toplass of Claughtons presented to Bronwyn Wilson the title of Hulll’s Young Entrepreneur of Year 2011.

On a final not a big thank you to all of those who helped and supported us during and before the week especially the young entreprenurs Ruth Badger, Claire Young and Sarah Longthorn. We are looking at what we might do next year so if you have any ideas let me know and if you want to play an active part in helping the organising committee let me know as we need people who are prepared to go that extra mile as maybe we are running out of steam a little and we need to improve our commitment and support to our young people. Ring 01482-612983

Winners Badgers Sett Enterprise Challenge

During Global Entrepreneurship Week 2010 young people from Hull pitched their business ideas to former BBC Apprentice star Ruth Badger. Young people from across the city entered the Badgers Sett Enterprise Challenge under four different categories and the winners pitched their idea for the chance to double their winnings from the first round.


The competition had over 2,500 hits on the website www.hullbadgers.co.uk, which resulted in 78 enquiries, 36 entries and 16 projects that were shortlisted to 'pitch' to the judges. All the entrants had to present their idea to the first judging panel, made up of people from the public, private and community sectors. There were some fantastic entries, and many of them walked away with vouchers and sponsorship deals before the final.
The six finalists were
Under 11's section Tree Huggers Production from Griffin Primary and the Toast Bar from Longhill Primary in East Hull

11 - 16 year old section The Green Queen's and East Hull Urban Arts from Malet Lambert from East Hull
16 - 18 year old section Oliver Wilson (Hull Training Apprentice) and Andy Selby (President of Students Union at Wilberforce College) of Xuro Computers of East Hull (both ex pupils of Malet Lambert)
19 - 21 year old section Ethan Gibson Impression 11 of West Hull

The final judging panel took place on Thursday 17th November and Ruth Badger was joined by Debbie Page and Gerard Toplass of Claughtons, Andrew Peterson KC Head of Marketing & Propositions, Bronwyn Wilson of Crazy Critter World Phil Batty, Managing Director of Force-7 and Sarah Longthorn, Founder of Wedge Welly,

Toast Bar from Longhill Primary gained a commendation for the second year running with their business idea and secured advice and support from Debbie Page of Claughtons to source the white goods they need and Hull training are giving them a free course in Health and Safety.

The overall winner was the Green Queens from Malet Lambert School who first got involved in enterprise in Global Entrepreneurship Week last year and though they did not win continued seeking support and developing their ideas who overall secured £600 investment into their enterprise project and the chance to develop it further with support from Hull Training and the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank. At the same time.

Andy Selby secured a Free book keeping course worth £350 from Goldings and a Business mentoring session with Ruth Badger in her office in Manchester.

Ethan Gibson secured a Free book keeping course worth £350 from Goldings

On Friday 18th November both winners were invited to the Secondary Day in Global Entreprenurship Week to get their winnings from the Badgers Sett Enterprise Challenge.

Ruth Badger with Longhill Toast Bar

Post 16 Apprentice Day - GEW Hull

170 sixteen to eighteen year olds on a range of post 16 educational programmes in Hull attended this inspirational day at Staff House at the University of Hull. Inspiration was provided by a number of guest speakers who all gave personal reflections on their own unique journeys and the lessons that each had learnt from them. The highlight of which was international business guru Ruth Badger, who had featured prominently in the BBC Apprentice series.
There were keynote addresses from three widely different local entrepreneurs. Hull’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 Amanda Hartley told the young people how she had realised her dream of opening a florists only a couple of years after leaving school, defying some people who said she was too young and that the business would not survive the recession. while Phil Benson of Xing Health spoke about the development of his business, including the initial impulse to set up following a visit to America and on to the present with their opening of a Xing shop in the heart of the Shambles in York and their new school programme, he also said they hoped to open a Smoothie Bar in partnership with pupils from Malet Lambert School next year.

The young people then moved from the theoretical to the practical, working in teams to complete the Badger’s Sett activity. Each team was set the challenge of coming up with a marketing concept for a product or service using an object placed on each group’s table as inspiration. Each group then had 45 minutes to come up with the name of the product, the retail cost and suitable marketing material, all of which had to be linked to the Olympic Games 2012.
They were then thrown into the Badger’s Sett, meaning they had to give a dynamic four -minute presentation to a panel of senior heads of local organisations. Also 1 person from each team was allowed to make a 1 minute pitch to camera

The ‘Badgers’ were:

1 Ruth Badger
2 Judy Ward, Marketing Director, Mail News & Media
3 Jonathan Leafe Managing Director Strawberry
4 Martin Shaw Managing Directors, D3 Office Group

The Winners

• First Prize £500 donated by William Jacksons went to Centre Flag from Hull College
• Second Prize £250 donated by Hull College went to Light of Champions of Hull College
• Third Prize £150 donated by St Stephen’s went to Talk Torch of St Mary’s College
• Fourth Prize £100 worth of vouchers donated by NPS Humber Hull Posh Screen Tec from Hull Training,
  also each member got £10 in vouchers for their overall team work
• Fifth Prize £100donated by Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce went to Essential Box from Hull
  College
• Sixth Prize £100 donated by Lynne Hope Communications went to Celebrating the Word – Enterprise
  Club at the University of Hull
• Seventh Prize £100 donated by Ruth Badger Consultancy went to Photo Frames of Construction Centre at
  Hull Training
• Video Pitch winner donated by Hull Training £10 voucher for each team member went to St Mary’s
   College

Ruth Badger said

“I told the young people how important they are – they are the Next business generation. They need to believe in themselves and actually get out there and do something and they certainly showed their entrepreneurial skills when they faced the judges at this event just like in Wolverhampton were I was born, Manchester were I work Hull should be proud of its young people as they are truly enterprising.”