Derry students shine at Young Enterprise trade fair

The students were tasked with making a business and creating a product that they would sell at the trade fair. They were then judged by an expert panel who decided on the best team.

Fionnuala McMenamin, Area Manager said: “The one that most of them are involved in is the Company Programme, which is the Year 13 programme for students in mainstream schools. The next one is the team programme which is run in our special schools and then there’s two teams doing the Start Up which is in the regional colleges. In essence, it’s all the same; they started a business themselves and they’re making money. They’ve all gone in different directions, which is great, and they’ve all taken on different roles in the company such as Managing Director, Sales, Production and things. Marketing is very important at the minute and today we have an Instagram competition so they’re taking videos and TikToks and things. We have judges from local businesses asking questions and there’ll be winner at the end of the day. The main thing they take from the day is that they are dealing with the public and are gaining so many skills from that including employability skills, confidence, team working skills that they’ll need when they leave.”

"We’re so thankful to Foyleside and to all the judges for helping us along with the day.”

Ardnashee School and College’s business Off the Wall specialises in handmade wooden bird boxes and planters with both solar and battery lights. The products are made and decorated by the students themselves on Tuesdays and Wednesdays they spend in the NWRC doing Joinery and Painting and Decorating.

Abi Wilson, Jessica Lynch, Mackenzie McIntyre, Sean McCaul and PA Sean Allan ‘loved’ selling the products they worked so hard to make. They used Pintenterest to search for ideas and went out with Robert from the Woodland Trust to research the bird boxes.

Sean Allan said: “We thought these would make people's houses look nicer and brighten up the place. We’ve been working on these for a month and we decided to call the business Off The Wall because a flower pot is not on the wall, it’s Off The Wall.

"Feedback has been very positive, people are saying we’re very nice, kind and helpful and we have good quality service.”

“With the money we’ve made, we’re going to go to a hotel in Belfast or to Gartan,” said Abi.

‘Self care’ and looking after your mental health was a common theme for the businesses with many companies’ products focusing on ways to help the consumer look after themselves.

One of those was St Mary’s College’s business ‘Believe’. Team member Amy Boast said: “Our business is based around positive thinking. Wee make wee quotes that are positive affirmations, which is a better way to start your day than on social media. It puts a positive thought in your brain at the start of the day. It’s a way to promote good mental health among young people.”

The students made everything themselves, including creating their own quotes.

"Each quote means something to each of us,” Eimear said. “There are 20 cards in each pack, which is a number which represents success and balance.”

The Reach Across team is made up of students from different schools, including Kelsie Clarke from St Cecelia’s, John Akhionbare from St Columb’s College and Isabelle Scott from Thornhill College. The team made a ‘self-care kit’ to help people look after their mental health, including a candle, a face mask chocolate and bath salts.

Kelsie said: “Coming out of the pandemic, people have become isolated and more stressed so we want people to know that you can take time for yourself, even if it’s a small thing. All the profit goes to Reach Across to help with day trips, community things and, hopefully, more things like this. ”This is all very new to us but this is the starting point. We’re thinking that we would love to do this again. We’re taking notes from other people so we can expand our product and have more to sell in future. It’s really fun and a great experience to have.”

“The feedback has been really positive so far,” added John. “It seems that people enjoy this type of thing because they don’t have any idea what to get their significant other for Valentine’s Day or even for themselves. It’s such a cheap price as well for £6.50.”

Thornhill College students made a package which includes a teddy, a candle and a handmade note, a small box of Pringles, a bar of chocolate and a singular rose to ‘break down the stigma of being alone on Valentine’s Day’.

Holly Bradley said: “We carried out a lot of surveys in our school and talked amongst ourselves to think what would help us. We know that not everyone’s mental health is the same so we decided to target a broad range of people and that’s how we came to this. The feedback so far has been amazing. We’ve only had positive reviews so far and it's great to hear. We sold Christmas boxes at Christmas too and our whole school raved about them. People were buying them as gifts for their family and friends and everyone loved them.”

Rossmar School students made their own products from pallets and trees growing on their school grounds.

Lee Taylor said: "We cut them all up and made them into things like a pot stand, which has unfortunately sold out, coasters, candle holders and keyrings and we also made valentines cards.”The students had a great day and it made them so ‘happy’ that people loved their products and that some even sold out.

Peter Gilvory said: "Some of the things came from trees in our school and we reused them so that’s good for the environment.”

Calum Cassidy said: “My favourite part of the day was selling things that we made ourselves and meeting people too.”

Daryl McNeill, teacher at Rossmar School said: "We decided to join up to Young Enterprise because we’re an SEN school. I have experience of doing this before and it’s great for their social skills, dealing with money and working with the public so I’m always very keen for our young people to do it, as well as the practical skill of making things. I’ve been amazed at how confident the students have been today not only dealing with the public but also when the judges came and were asking lots of questions. Their level of knowledge was very very good so I’m very proud of them today.”