ENTERPRISING STUDENTS MAKE THEIR MARK

Last updated 11:40, Wednesday, 16 July 2008

A GROUP of enterprising students from west Cumbria have come out on top in a schools business challenge.

Rising to the challenge: Dale Williams, general manager for McBride, congratulates the Whitehaven School team

A team of 13 and 14-year-olds from Whitehaven School won the McBride Make it Enterprising Schools Challenge.

They come up with a prototype dispenser for a hi-tech new washing tablet and had to pitch the idea to a team of Dragons’ Den-style judges at the end of the day.

The event was part of the Manufacturing Institute’s Make It campaign to attract young people into industry.

This was the second of seven north west heats, with three teams of finalists from each heat invited to compete in a grand regional final later this year.

The event was sposnsored by Barrow manufacturing business McBride – Europe’s largest own label supplier of household cleaning and personal care products.

The Manufacturing Institute’s Make It campaign manager Nicola Eagleton said: “Firing the imagination of teenagers as they plan their future is no easy task, but it is crucial if industry is to attract the best new talent.

“Today, manufacturers struggle to recruit bright school leavers with the right skills and attitudes.

“Too many youngsters don’t see industry as an attractive career path. But our Make It in Manufacturing campaign is changing all that.”

Dale Williams, general manager for McBride, said: “Modern manufacturing is an exciting global enterprise competing on innovation, creativity and ingenuity, and these are the skills our winners were able to demonstrate on the day.”

The Make It campaign was launched in November 2006.