Students mean business as they set up their own
company in Asda foyer

BRIDGEWATER High School pupils have turned a supermarket into a boardroom as they tackle a young enterprise project.

The mini-moguls from the Broomfields Road school visited the Asda store at Cockhedge in a programme run by Asda and Britain’s largest enterprise education charity, Young Enterprise.

As part of the scheme they created their own company with help from a volunteer mentor and did everything from selling shares in their business to raising capital to work with, through to designing and making their product or service to selling directly to customers. At the end of the project they also wound up the firm and even paid their taxes.

During their trip to Asda they got the chance to sell their products in the store foyer and even persuaded staff and customers to volunteer to help their business.

The schoolchildren also had the chance to grill the community life colleague, Liz Cotterill, finding out what makes a busy supermarket tick.

Liz said: “I thought Jeremy Paxman asked tough questions but the children would give him a run for his money. It was fantastic to let these talented young people use Asda for their latest board meeting, and for them to meet our customers.

“Everyone was impressed by their enthusiasm and business acumen and there’s one or two I think could be great shopkeepers in the future.”

The aim of the partnership is to help the young people gain business and employment skills such as teamwork, problem solving and learning from those already in work.