The competition has a whiff of The Dragons Den about it, or perhaps it is more resonant of the parable of the talents. It is known as the ‘Tenner Challenge’ as the pupils are given a pledge of £10.00. They are then expected to research and agree upon a product or service, into which they will invest the £10.00 to get the concept off the ground.

They will research the market and target audience for their service or product, together with  materials and production costs. They will develop a brand and USP for the product, as well as a Logo and a marketing strategy. Profit has to be calculated in the business plan, and the £10.00 must be included in this calculation as repayable together with a £1.00 legacy contribution to the YEO Scheme.

We have included here one of the teams, who developed two ideas which they have linked together, a handmade tote bag, designed and produced by one of the team, and ‘Blind date with a Book’. The book can be purchased alone, or in the bag.

The concept of  ‘Blind date with a Book’  is a mystery book, wrapped up with only the themes and age rating on the label. The books are all sourced second hand for pence from charity shops, in line with the team’s ethos of sustainability and renewables.

The team managed to offer the mystery book alone for £3.00, or £5.00 if in a Lilia Tote bag, and still make a profit on each sale!

The team is running an eco-friendly business, attempting to encourage the general public to read in a sustainable way, and to understand the impact of the unnecessary disposal of books. They have been inspired by their own passions, the entire group are voracious readers. In addition, the product has to be as sustainable as possible to meet their firm commitment to renewables and sustainability.

All the pupils taking part in the Tenner Challenge are all taking Business Studies at GCSE. They found the Challenge an excellent way to experience an approach to business in practice, rather than purely from the theoretical perspective. What this particular team hope to achieve from these two products is that customers will begin to appreciate the full severity of careless consumerism of books, and be aware of their everyday decisions.

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