On Monday, 13th June five of our S4 boys competed in the 2016 Tom Hunter Challenge at the Park Hotel in Kilmarnock. They presented to around 200 people – including a panel of judges including Sir Tom Hunter, Willie Mackie (Regional Chair Ayrshire College and board member of Scottish Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland), David Ross (Director, Keppie Design) and Frank Gormanley (enabler, Entrepreneurial Spark) – in the Dragons’ Den style contest which involved students using their skills and business knowledge to develop a business plan for a new innovative product/service.
The event gave students a unique opportunity to learn from Sir Tom’s own experiences and to gain expert advice and feedback from business professionals. The guest speaker was Josh Littlejohn, founder of the Social Bite café who aged just 28 established a sandwich business with four different outlets in Edinburgh and Glasgow, donating all profits to supporting the homeless and other good causes in Scotland, Bangladesh and Malawi. He is also responsible for the Scottish Business Awards which have drawn speakers such as Richard Branson and George Clooney!
The Marr team came up with innovative eco-friendly solar powered blinds as their product. These work from either a remote control or an ‘app’ which allows you to open and close your blinds while on holiday hopefully reducing the chance of a break in and also stores energy collected through solar panels to operate the blinds.
The group presented well and were praised by the judges for their innovative idea, financials and eco-friendly approach. The boys answered the questions from the panel confidently and did themselves proud. Sadly Marr missed out on the big prize and the winning team on the night was ‘Musary’ - two S6 students from St Joseph’s Academy who have devised a customised music therapy service for dementia sufferers. However our students were an asset to the school - students involved included: Calum Cooper, Mark Howard, David Jack, Ben Smyth and William Stewart. We would like to say a huge congratulations to the team them as it was a daunting task presenting in front of peers and judges.
The event gave students a unique opportunity to learn from Sir Tom’s own experiences and to gain expert advice and feedback from business professionals. The guest speaker was Josh Littlejohn, founder of the Social Bite café who aged just 28 established a sandwich business with four different outlets in Edinburgh and Glasgow, donating all profits to supporting the homeless and other good causes in Scotland, Bangladesh and Malawi. He is also responsible for the Scottish Business Awards which have drawn speakers such as Richard Branson and George Clooney!
The Marr team came up with innovative eco-friendly solar powered blinds as their product. These work from either a remote control or an ‘app’ which allows you to open and close your blinds while on holiday hopefully reducing the chance of a break in and also stores energy collected through solar panels to operate the blinds.
The group presented well and were praised by the judges for their innovative idea, financials and eco-friendly approach. The boys answered the questions from the panel confidently and did themselves proud. Sadly Marr missed out on the big prize and the winning team on the night was ‘Musary’ - two S6 students from St Joseph’s Academy who have devised a customised music therapy service for dementia sufferers. However our students were an asset to the school - students involved included: Calum Cooper, Mark Howard, David Jack, Ben Smyth and William Stewart. We would like to say a huge congratulations to the team them as it was a daunting task presenting in front of peers and judges.
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