Brought to you by
Durham County Council
Future Business Magnates (FBM), the UK’s longest running inter-school enterprise competition, is celebrating 20 years, during which time more than 2,400 Year 8 students from 40 County Durham schools have taken part in it.
Over the course of seven months each team of eight, supported by a local business, takes part in a series of challenges to develop a product or service to solve a particular problem whilst learning what it takes to run a business.
“We know from our conversations with local businesses that one of their key challenges is whether they are going to be able to get the talent, the skilled people who are going to work in their business and run them in the future,” said Sarah Slaven, the Managing Director of Business Durham.
“Year after year with FBM we see how creative and mature they are – often way beyond their years – and that gives you a real sense of hope for the future.”
In the past eight years Durham County Council’s business support service, Business Durham – which runs the competition – has also introduced nearly 10,000 Year 7 students to enterprise through FBM Freshers. This year, for the first time, 250 primary school children have taken part in FBM Market Makers and 200 Year 9 students were involved in a creative enterprise project.
To mark FBM’s 20th anniversary the 11 teams took part in the competition’s first Pitch Day at Beamish Museum.
Mystery shoppers marked the teams on their customer engagement, the quality and design of their product or service and the overall look of their stand in response to this year’s challenge of re-imagining the high street. The points they earn will go towards deciding the overall winner.
The competition has seen students supported by a range of County Durham businesses including Waterstons, Robertson Homes, Stiller and Co-op Distribution, among others.
The Co-op has worked with FBM teams for more than a decade. Ian Hindle, the Distribution General Manager for its Birtley depot, said: “We have been privileged to support such a fantastic programme that enables students across the county to be involved in a competition driving innovation and engagement for all the students and teachers involved.”
The Co-ops involvement has also had a positive impact on its staff. “We have enjoyed watching our own depot colleagues grow in confidence when they support the programme, collaborating with the teachers and students and helping schools with their business ideas and plans,” Ian said.
Fourteen years ago Ben Muxworthy was a member of the team from Park View School in Chester-le-Street that won FBM with its product, a frozen yogurt.
Today he is a director of Timba Floors and Boards, a multi-million pound import and wholesale business based near Stanley.
Ben believes learning about core business principles through the competition is invaluable for the students, whatever career they choose, adding that FBM might also open new doors.
“It’s a chance for them to actually understand business a bit more and see if it’s a potential career path for them,” said Ben.
“It’s a great competition. It’s not just the buying and selling and seeing how much money you can make – it’s about your understanding of marketing principles, task delegation and little bit about finance as well.”
The team from Ben’s old school, Park View, took part in Pitch Day at Beamish.
Andrew Finley, the school’s Head Teacher, said: “FBM symbolises everything I would want in a competition to really develop students’ potential. It puts them in enterprising situations and helps to build their entrepreneurial skills.
“Those skills – such as leadership, organisation, resilience, initiative and communication – are greatly valued by business.”
Following Pitch Day the teams will take part in their final task – a Dragons’ Den-style presentation in front of a panel of business experts.
For more information about Future Business Magnates and how to get involved, visit futurebusinessmagnates.co.uk.
