Rydal Penrhos’ Economics and Business school received a fantastic trophy for their major competition victory recently.
Suhas Shekar, Simeon Murphy-Thomas, Juan Rajagopal, Damisola Animashaun and Patrick Burke, who are all Year 12 pupils at Rydal Penrhos, secured a tremendous victory from an Enterprise Challenge set by Lancaster University School of Management recently.
The team – named “The Determinators” – got through to the final stages of the challenge, which consisted of some prestigious schools including Maidstone Grammar School, Lancaster Royal Grammar and Dulwich College.
This consisted of several rounds where the individual teams needed to present their ideas for a new enterprise, fully costed, that has to meet with some of the UN Sustainability Goals.
The Rydal Penrhos team decided to think about the school’s links to Uganda – one based on Methodist charity work we conduct there with pupils every two years – and to create a system of implementation of solar panels on Ugandan schools (starting with ten in the first five years but able to be rolled out and sized up to encompass the whole of the country and beyond).
Once the solar panels were in place then laptops would be provided to the schools which could be powered solely by the solar panels giving no long-term running costs or susceptibility to power outages.
The laptops would enable a continuous education stream from local teachers and those all over the world.
Hypothetically the team were going to go to the Overseas Development Agency (ODA), carbon offsetting schemes as well as private funders such as Dyson and British Gas to fund the project.
This exceptional idea eventually saw Rydal Penrhos emerge victorious from the competition, with the group finally receiving the coveted trophy on Thursday 27 May during a special presentation at morning registration.
The actual prize extends well beyond a trophy. Each pupil will spend time at Lancaster’s marketing department on work experience looking at university recruitment as part of the prize, which is sure to be a fantastic experience for the group after their phenomenal success.
Lancaster is one of the biggest management schools in the country and one of the few that has a large enterprise section. This Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) prize is exceptional as a result of being judged not only by academics but by successful entrepreneurs operating in the business world.
Lancaster Enterprise Presentation from Year 12
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Anyone wishing to enquire about Rydal Penrhos School can do so by calling 01492 530155, email admissions@rydalpenrhos.com or register your interest online here: https://rydalpenrhos.com/admissions/apply-now.
