Youngsters presented to a panel of business experts and local authority members at a special event at the Royal Naval College, promoting their ideas for worthy causes.

The competition, facilitated by Social Enterprise Academy, gave pupils the chance to get professional advice on their social enterprise projects from industry know-it-alls.

Pupils from Invicta Primary, The John Roan School, Timbercroft Primary School, Millennium Primary School and St Mary Magdalene School all stepped up to argue the case for their good ideas.

Their projects aimed at tackling the cost-of-living crisis, the climate emergency, knife crime and stress.

 

The judges – made up of Matthew West, of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Paul Stevens, of BGF, Babatunde Ojo, of SAP and Sophie Hunter, of Cirrus, then had the tough task of picking a winner.

Winning £100, Timbercroft Primary School took home the top spot for their initiative to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and adults in the community by making stress relief kits.. Millennium Primary School also received a certificate for Most Creative Pitch for their social enterprise tackling deforestation by creating a “cookazine”, and Versity of The John Roan School received an award for Best Secondary School for their work tackling racism. Invicta took home best business plan, for their anti-homelessness work, and all pupils were highly commended for taking part in the exercise.

Cllr Matt Morrow, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said: “Every one of the projects put forward could have been a worthy winner. The preparation and enthusiasm participants put in demonstrates just how passionate they are about building a better society. Social enterprise is about investing back in our communities, and it’s amazing to see how much young people buy into that.”

Matt Nicol, Head of Programme Development at the Social Enterprise Academy: “It was great to see the next generation of Greenwich social entrepreneurs in action. They all shared creative and thoughtful responses to local social issues, are having an impact in their communities and have a great future ahead of them.”