Grove Road Primary School won the local Social Enterprise Schools Dragons’ Den competition last week with their idea of a healthy food stall to support the social development of young people.
Published: Wednesday, 26th April 2023
The competition was hosted by Hounslow Council in partnership with Social Enterprise Academy.
This is the first time this competition has been held in Hounslow. Grove Road Primary School, The Heathland School and Edward Pauling Primary School were the three schools that participated on the day. Springwest Academy, Woodbridge Park Education Services, and Oaklands took part in the overall competition.
Schools had to present enterprise ideas to an expert panel of ‘dragons’ which included: Councillor Shantanu Rajawat, Leader of Hounslow Council, Steven Forbes, Executive Director of Children's and Adult Services at Hounslow Council, Sherisse Loughrey, Sales Operation Business Enablement Specialist at SAP and Haris Ahmad, Enterprise Account Director at SAP.
Councillor Shantanu Rajawat, Leader of Hounslow Council and Councillor Lily Bath, Cabinet member for Children, Learning and Employment, said: “It was a fantastic event, listening to schools pitch their ideas and the amount of thought and effort that went into it you can tell the entrepreneurial spirit is alive in this borough. We would like to encourage schools to keep nurturing this passion as children are the future of our borough.”
The Dragons’ Den event held at Hounslow House provided an opportunity for pupils to gain professional advice on their social enterprise business ideas. Social enterprise ideas pitched included hand-made celebratory cards that tackle the cost-of-living crisis, and the development of a school pitch for the local community.
Matt Nicol, Head of Programme Development, Social Enterprise Academy said: “It was great to see the next generation of Hounslow social entrepreneurs in action. They all shared creative and thoughtful responses to local social issues, are having an impact in their communities and have a great future ahead of them.”
To find out more please visit the Social Enterprise Academy website.
