AS part of the Year 10 Business Studies course, students at Holsworthy College were given £10 to plan and run a business in their community for one month.

The scheme was run as part of a Young Enterprise award called ‘The Tenner Challenge’.

The Tenner Challenge is for young people aged 11 to 19 who want to get a taste of what it’s like to be an entrepreneur.

It gives them an opportunity to think of a new business idea and make it happen, using real money to take calculated risks in the business field, make a profit — and make a difference in their community.

There was a wealth of business ideas at Holsworthy Community College, all focused around running a social enterprise — where the business is run on a ‘not for profit’ basis and all profit goes back into the business or, in this case, goes towards a social cause.

Businesses ranged from sweet stalls and cake stalls, handmade soaps and pamper bags for primary aged girls, to eco fire bricks and a community football event.

From the planning and development stage, through to the running of the business and finishing with the evaluation of the business, students developed key enterprise skills including team work, creativity, positivity, resilience, coping with setbacks and problem solving.

At the end of a month of trading students had to pay back the £10 loan they were given, plus a 10% interest rate, which was £11 per group; what was left over was their profit.

The social causes ranged from the school canteen to the Little Princess Trust and the building of a new community Astro pitch.

The students were marked on their team work, the individual input and their team’s performance.

Below are the five categories and the winners of these.

Best group: Sweet’n’Sweet. This group was a social enterprise focused on raising funds for the canteen, after recognising that their business itself did not promote healthy eating.

The group was very organised throughout and kept a keen eye on costs. They showed a good understanding of cost per unit and pricing.

The group consisted of Kieran Bundey, Josh and Matt Gay.

Highest profit: Fresh Football, with a profit of £82.70. The group planned and ran a football tournament for primary aged children, with each team paying an entry fee and competing.

The group worked hard to meet with the local council and local primary schools to get the one off event to work well.

The team were Alex Farmer, Ollie Moores and Jon Skinner.

Greatest social impact: Paper fire bricks. Fire bricks were made from shredded waste paper, wrapped and were then ready to burn.

The group was super keen right from the beginning to get producing their bricks. The bricks took a long time to dry and their planning of this was commendable. The two members of the team were Kieron and Adam Yeo.

Most innovative idea: Princess pouches, which were gift bags containing lip balm, chocolates, hair accessories and other products.

The items were beautifully packaged and were for sale at Holsworthy Primary School tuck shop. The group was run amazingly well by Millie Paddon and Lucie Hasson.