Creative Arts students beat schools and colleges across the South East to win Young Enterprise award

Students studying Creative Arts and Media at New City College Tower Hamlets came out on top in the Young Enterprise Programme Regional Trade Fair held at the historic Spitalfields Market last week.

For the second consecutive year, New City College students from the Poplar campus were awarded the Best Marketing Award in the tough competition – beating students from 43 other schools and colleges in the South East.

In scenes that could have come straight out of BBC TV’s The Apprentice programme, the students – Athena Fanning, Sophie Carter and Janna Akhter – created their own business and then designed pop-up trade stalls to sell their products at the market.

They were awarded the trophy for Best Marketing after being interviewed by the panel of judges, which included some of the City’s top business professionals from Credit Suisse, Mastercard, Delta Airlines, Amazon and HSBC.

The Tower Hamlets students’ business is called Badgeflix which makes fun, thoughtful and affordable bespoke gifts designed to ‘bring a smile’.

They said: “Our products come with a wow factor! They are something that customers will want to keep forever. We have badges, keyrings, fridge magnets, compact mirrors and bottle openers which are fun, unique, practical and stylish and can be personalised for a special gift.

“Our Nightflix range will keep people safe when they are out and about in the dark with reflective designs for children and cyclists.”

Having won the Best Marketing Award, Badgeflix will now go on to the next stage of the competition which will be held at Greenwich Market Trade Fair next month.

Deputy Principal of Tower Hamlets campus, Jorge Castillo-Rodriguez, said: “We are very proud of our students for winning this Young Enterprise Best Marketing award. Congratulations to them and to their teachers Riaad Husein and Mags Doyle. This is the second consecutive year that our students have won this important competition which is a wonderful achievement. Well done everyone!”

Young Enterprise is a charity that believes in young talent. They provide enterprise and financial education to students and help them run their young businesses, introducing them to the world of work. Students work in teams to set up and run their own company under the guidance of a Business Volunteer.

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