What a win! Versaleaf celebrate their West Midlands victory at Birmingham UniversityA group of young entrepreneurs from Stone have made the national finals of the Young Enterprise competition after they won the West Midlands regional final on Friday night.
Versaleaf, the Young Enterprise team from Alleyne’s High School, beat other teams from across the West Midlands to make the national final next month at the Savoy Hotel in London.
In a packed Great Hall at Birmingham University they convinced the judges, all experienced business people, that they were the best Young Enterprise company in the West Midlands.
They will now be going to the National Finals at the Savoy Hotel in London in July.
The competition involved the team writing a comprehensive company report, setting up a trade stand, being interviewed by the judges and making a five-minute presentation to the 200-strong audience.
The company also won the award for the best financial management of a Young Enterprise company in the West Midlands and Alison Norbury, Versaleaf managing director of Versaleaf, won the Managing Director Leadership award. The judges were particularly impressed with her ability to inspire her team to even greater success.
In Stafford and Stone the Young Enterprise Company programme is run by a volunteer board, chaired by David Hawbrook. Jonathan Andrew and John Sayer – the chairman of Stone Festival – also won awards on Friday night for their years of dedication to the Young Enterprise initiative in Stone and Stafford.
Versaleaf’s product is based on the Japanese art of furoshiki, where material is knotted together to form various items, such as shopping bags, gift bags, or even an item of clothing!
The judges said that they were particularly impressed with the way that the company had taken the original Japanese idea and converted it into a product which was suitable for the UK market.
They were also impressed with their marketing skills. Not only has the product been available in local shops, but is also now likely to be available in national chains later this year.
The team has a website – www.knotthebag.co.uk – and has been making significant sales using a PayPal account.
Versaleaf was established in September 2010 when the team joined the Young Enterprise Company Programme. Earlier in this year the company had won through a strong local competition in Stafford and Stone, and were crowned as Staffordshire’s best company in May at the JCB headquarters in Rocester.
Karen Lockett, headteacher of Alleyne’s High School, was at the West Midlands final on Friday. She said: “I’m so proud of each and every member of Versleaf. I’d like to pay tribute to the hard work put in by all of the young people who have made the team such a huge success.”
HUGE congratulations to Versaleaf – over 200 teams entered the competition in the West Midlands last September. They are now in the top 12 in the whole country. Good luck at the national final!
2 comments
Gill Knight
YAY! well done team. It’s becoming one of the things i must have….
John Sayer
There is a website Gill – http://www.knotthebag.co.uk you can buy directly through that using PayPal. Another demonstration of this team’s entrepreneurial attitude, most Young Enterprise teams, if they have a website, ask you send an e-mail and they get back to you.
It is an excellent team who are fine ambassadors for the School and thier Town.