They say good things come in threes, well this was definitely the case for economics and enterprise students here these last three days. On Monday 25^th March our Young Enterprise students took part in the London regional finals. The company called Asserted designed t-shirts that had a low carbon footprint which can be upcycled and with the goal for consumers to buy high-quality long-term clothing. The name Asserted has a link to ‘assert’ women in business, only 16% of business are run by women. They want to change this and assert women as entrepreneurs. The quality of the t-shirts and the unique designs will mean that consumers might only buy a few, but they are a sustainable purchase as they are always in fashion.

Although the team won the marketing prize there was real disappointment and a sense of unfairness at not winning the main prize. The company had made profits five times its nearest rivals, they had sold vastly more products, had TikTok had over 10,000 views. The team that won had just opened an account on the day of the final. But in terms of having fun and enjoying the day the girls were brilliant. They were the only group that you could hear, in a good way (laughing) and having fun. Although they did not win ‘a beauty contest’ they won and have gained a lot from this. This has not stopped them; it has made them more determined to continue the business and they will continue to trade and have big plans for the next few months. So, if you are looking for summer t-shirts that are high in quality, are good for the environment and are boosting women in business you won’t go far wrong with an Asserted t-shirt.

GAIN Challenge is an investment competition that is open to girls’ schools. The objective is to encourage more women into investment banking, currently only 17% of bankers are female. The competition ran from early January to Friday 22^nd March and involved weekly lectures on how to value a share and if it is worth buying or selling. Our two teams were given that task of analysing M&S and Associated British Foods (ABF, owners of Primark among other household names). Our students had to look at company reports, use the Financial Times and a range of other sources to work out what the future holds for these two firms. If you are looking to stick money into some investment both of our teams think that both of these companies are a BUY. Such a simple result that required a huge amount of work. In the end the girls had to do a 5 minute presentation and produce a report on sales forecast, income statement ratios all leading to the buy decision.

We were lucky to have been given an advisor who came to the school and gave advice along with insights into the world of work that she does. This real-world application highlighting the interesting jobs that are involved in the world of banking and why we should see more women in such areas.

Finally we had a trip to London School of Economics on Thursday evening. We went to see Gary Stevenson, an ex-banker who now is campaigning for a more equal society. ‘Poacher turned gamekeeper’. There is an expression I was brought up with is ‘Man makes plans and God laughs’ – we arrived early but the event was full! It was billed as a no ticket event, meaning low demand. This was not the educational goal; however we did a tour of LSE and Kings College and there was a real buzz about the place. The problem I did not realize since planning the trip is his book is now a top seller nationally. Yet, the goal of widening interest in economics affairs may have been reached in an odd way. We spoke to others there who also did not get in about their interest in economics and why people need to take an interest in income and wealth.

Mr Connelly, Head of Economics