Academy pupils win £300 investment

Entrepreneurial students from Darlaston have been given £300 to invest in their business idea after competing in a Dragon's Den style competition. more

Grace Academy Darlaston pupils Brooklyn Davies and Kieran Kang took their idea for a personalised children's storybook, featuring photos of the child as well as their name, to judges from Santander.

The judges had to choose between the ideas of pupils from Darlaston, Solihull and Coventry, before deciding who to hand over the cash to.

The Dragons chose the concept from the range of other interesting ideas because it was well thought through and close to completion.

Winning pupil Kieran Kang said: "I learned that when you are giving a presentation you need to go into a lot of detail and really know what you are talking about, otherwise the Dragons wouldn't be willing to buy your product.

"I gained from the experience of evaluating our work and improving it, and adding more information and being more accurate with the money."

Jeremy Douglas Jones, business facilitator at Grace Academy, said: "We love working with Santander on this project.

"The Dragons' Den is excellent at pushing our students beyond their perceived boundaries and giving them a real experience of creating your own business from nothing.

"Every year we see students that are very unsure of themselves, but their creativity blossoms under the pressure, and for one team it is a real opportunity to get a small business off the ground.

"Giving our students the opportunity to rub shoulders with professionals helps to raise their self-belief and aspirations."